Skip to main content

Full text of "PC Accelerator 01 Sep 1998"

See other formats 


Hill 


"PREMIERE ISSUE! 


I A NEW MAGAZINE for a NEW GENERATION ... read this or die! 



• \ Games that’ll 

* KICK QUAKE IPs ASS! 


DUKE4EVER 


Others that will 


DAI KATANA 


DIE TRYING 


KLINGON HONOR GUARD 


QUAKE III: The Latest News r 


25 Greatest GUY GAMES 


What 3D CARD is right for you 


MADDEN ’99 has arrived 


SEPTEMBER 1998 


Become an UNREAL God 


imagine 


WARNING! 


$7 . 99US $ 0 . 99C AN 


0 9 > 


CONTENT NOT SUITABLE FOR SMALL 
CHILDREN OR OLD WOMEN 


Complete love of fast games and an 
uncontrollable urge to frag anyone who 
gets in your way is recommended 


01059 












With the power of 3Dfx 

EIDOS brought Lara Croft from object 



Original lara Croft sketch, 1995 * 



• * # 


lara Croft starring in 
Tomb Raider III, 1998 



from Reve 



Omikron: The Nomad Soul 


www. eidosint eract ive . com 


Tomb Raider III, Lara Croft, and her likeness are trademarks of Core Design. © 1997-1998 Core Design. Final Fantasy VII is a registered trademark of Square Co., Ltd. 

) 1998 Square Co., Ltd. The character HIRO is copyright. ©1997 Ion Storm, L.P. Thief: The Dark Project is a trademark of Looking Glass Studios. © 1998 Looking Glass Studios. 
Revenant and EIDOS Interactive are trademarks of EIDOS pic. © 1998 EIDOS. © 1998 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. The 3Dfx Interactive logo is a trademark of 
3Dfx Interactive, Inc. in the USA and in other select countries. All rights reserved. 


Every time someone dies in Quake!!, 










Requiem Wrath ot the Fatten, 3 DO, Cyclone Studios, and the 3DO and Cyclone Studios iogos. are trademarks or registered trademarks of The 3DO Company in the U.S. and/or other countries. ©1998 The 3DO Company. Ali rights reserved. 





RATING PENDING 



PC 


their soul ends up here. 





WWW .REQUIEMPC.COM 



T H p LAWS QF NATUpp 


HE MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY WE’VE EVER SEEN IN A PC GAMING TITLE!” - COMPUTER GAMING WORLD 







1 






g^V’’ 

14 

| 


IPi^ 



I 






***** 




1 

r 












HAVE BEEN BROKEN 
GQING |p PAY- 




YOU ARE ALONE, WASHED ASHORE ON INGEN'S REMOTE RESEARCH ISLAND, 
SITE B, IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE LOST WORLD EXPEDITION. BEFORE 
YOU LIES A DENSE, TROPICAL JUNGLE FILLED WITH PREHISTORIC 
CARNIVORES THAT ARE VERY MUCH ALIVE. YOUR ONLY CHANCE OF 
SURVIVAL IS TO USE YOUR WITS TO BATTLE THE RELENTLESS WILD 
LIFE WITH ANYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. 




THE EVOLUTION OF 1ST PERSON 3-D GAMING. 


W W VV . T R E S P A S S E R.tO M 


Trespasser™ & © 1998 U.C.S. Computer Program 


Celebrities that just missed the cut: Boy George, George Michael, Michael Douglas 



TECHPHIIGS 


39 


Complete 3D card round-up. Find out what the future holds and where your 
money is best spent 


p LAy By play 


101 


Find the best baseball game — See the future of football — Complete standings - 
Beastly sporting moments 


Unreal expert strategy from the makers of the game gives you the lowdown on every 
weapon. Plus our Unreal quiz lets you see just how much you know! 


ONLINE ARENA 


118 


Find out where and how to play Unreal online with the most in-depth 
coverage anywhere 


k-TRA 


120 


News you can trust, from people you shouldn't. Leo gets fragged — A killer 
new joystick — Quake vs. Unreal — Shannon Tweed — 24 brand new games - 
10-second Quake II strategy — Developer Spotlight — Women We Love To Play 
— Don Knotts and a six-pack of Oly — and loads more 


Out of the heap of first-person shooters that 
are in progress, are there any that can topple 
the current benchmark Quake 111 We’ve rated 
the contenders (such as Prey, right) on their 
potential to steal the crown 


Morally invalid, horrifically violent, and damn 
fun! These are the games that stir up our 
testosterone and make us proud to be 
men 


QUAKE II 
KILLERS 


25 GREATEST 
GUY GAMES 






Make games with our exclusive 
WorldCraft 1.6 demo, five new Unreal levels. 
Quake skins, patches, and everything a gamer 
needs in one nifty 650MB package 


m 


1 


Mg**. 

$.V ..a** 


CELEBRITY APPEARANCES 

Farrah Fawcett, Don Knotts, Billy Dee Williams, Bjork, Demi Moore, Pamela Anderson, Denise 
Richards, Tonto. Evel Knievel. Dinky, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeffrey Dahmer, Bill Clinton, Latrell 
Sprewell, Nicolas Cage. Chewbacca, Phil Hartman, Ghandi, Shannon Tweed, Joan Collins. 
Mary Hart, Anna Nicole Smith, Marv Albert, Kate Moss, Stephanie Seymour. Rick Springfield, 
Abe Lincoln, Kato, Michelle Pfieffer, Phil Hartman’s Wife, Sonny 8ono, River Phoenix, Rosie 
O’Donnell, and more surprise guests! 


SLAVE 

ZERO 

Giant robots, giant screen- 
shots, Tommy Lee, and 
Chris Farley 


EDITOR'S 


It’s Mike Salmon’s inaugural letter, and an intro- 
duction to the infamous PCXL editorial staff 


FIRST PER 


IB2 


Do games really need a story? Editor in chief Mike 
Salmon thinks not. But executive editor Rob Smith 
takes him on in a scintillating debate 


COMMAND & 
CONQUER: 
TIBERIAN SUN 

The best-looking realtime 
strategy game in years 


7 . DAI KATANA 

it may never be finished, 
but it is starting to took 
mighty good 


ON THE COVER 

Of course, who would’ve conceptualized this Reservoir Dog-e sque theme cover other than the demented editorial team. Digital illustrator Jim 
Carroil created character visuals. We then put in some handmade blood (via Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator) created by assistant art director 
Kyie LeBoeuf. Oh yeah, Q! composited the whole thing together amidst some intense creative debate — ahhhhh, publishing. 


REQUIEM 

Angels of death and Char- 
lie’s Angels to boot 


77 OUR SCORING SYSTEM, REVEALED 


DESCENT 
FREESPACE: 
THE GREAT WAR 

No more hallways and 
plenty of action 


MONSTER 
TRUCK 
MADNESS 2 

Big-ass trucks with 
helium-filled tires 


78 UNREAL 

Amazing game, great 
engine, and the final word 
on whether it’s better than 
Quake II 


INCOMING 

Action gaming times 10 


FLESH 

FEAST 

A buffet of brains for those 
who are a bit off kilter 


MECH- 

COMMANDER 

Like MechWarrior meets Red 
Alert, or something 


QUAKE II 
MISSION PACK 
THE RECKONING 

More is better 


■ 


X-COM: 

INTERCEPTOR 

Accounting in space 


DOMINION: 
STORM OVER 
GIFT 3 

Ion Storm finishes a game, 
but is that enough? 


REDLINE 

RACER 

Fast, smooth, ultimately 
average 


REDNECK 
RAMPAGE 
RIDES AGAIN 

Dumb, ugly, and ignorant 
(we let Dan review this) 


HALF-UFE 

Four pages, exclusive 
screenshots, and every, 
thing you ever wanted to 
know about this game 


TOMB 
RAIDER 3 

New info, new screens, 
same old Lara 


DRAKAN 

Amazing new 3D game 
takes center stage 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




Keve You Brim An 
Brian Ass unit Vehicle Lately? 






FLAMETHROWER 


2X RAOAR GRIOEO MISSILE 
LAUNCHER 


SECURE CONTROL SYSTEM with realtime 

fractal encryption keeps your datalink untraceable 
and unbreakable. Drive with confidence. 


FUSION POWER PLANT delivers 
smooth running power at temperatures 
up to 700 degrees Kelvin 


FUSION REAM 


ARMOR FACINCS of renewable ceramic polymers 
protect your vehicle from adverse conditions such as 
plasma bolts and autocannon fire. 


ELECTROMABNETIC REPOLSOR ORIVE 

with gyrostabilization and inertial dampers 
goes from 0 to 180km/h in 0.0014 seconds 


The Apors Overlord 

Armor Trend netmagazine’s 
2219 Assault Vehicle of the Year 



All Nataka Remotely Piloted Vehicles ship with version 56.9 of BattleHelper, Nataka’s award-winning operating system. 
Some vehicles not exactly as shown. All performance specifications g.ven for unencumbered vehicles ini G of gravitational 
force and 101.9 kPa of barometric pressure unless otherwise indicated. BattleHelper is a registered product of the Nataka 
Corporate Empire. Unauthorized use of the BattleHelper name is a violation of applicable treaties and will be met with military 
force. Gunmetal” and Mad Genius Software" are registered trademarks of Mad Genius Software Ltd. 




MAD 

GENIUS 


A 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 





Q! once peeped at his kindergarten teacher’s panties — not that there’s anything wrong with that 


CONTACTS 


EDITOR'S LETTER 


WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE 


00 

Os 

Os 


X! 

E 

<v 

a. 

0) 

CO 

Q£ 

0 

1 


u 

a. 


Thank you and congratulations on picking up the premiere issue of a PC gaming magazine that is 
truly different than anything before it. The crack (and occasionally cracked) editorial staff of PC 
ACCELERATOR is set to deliver a monthly magazine that shares the passion and excitement of its 
readers — a companion as passionate and enthralled with the games as you are. Rather than try- 
ing to be all things to all people, we aim to be the ultimate resource for devoted gamers. In the 
process we’re going to have a load of fun. The two keys to a truly great magazine are to INFORM 
and to ENTERTAIN. On both accounts I’m sure you’ll agree that PC ACCELERATOR hits the mark 
like nobody else. 

We’re not only the creators of this magazine, we are the readers. Every man on this staff (and 
Carrie) loves playing PC games. Unlike some publications, we actually play the hell out of every 
game we put in our magazine. When we’re not writing stories or discussing ’80s pop culture we’re 
online playing Quake II, Unreal, and Battlezone. Because we are hardcore gamers you’ll notice that 
the tone of voice is more like an informed friend rather than a stuffy journalist. 

Before you read on I must issue a warning. We insult and offend everybody (including our- 
selves), and it’s all done in poor taste to boot. So if you are easily offended or don’t enjoy raucous 
laughter, now would be a good time to put this magazine down. However if you’re like us (a bit 
demented), you’ll find that PC ACCELERATOR is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stuffy market. 
Enjoy the magazine, get a subscription, tell a friend, and prepare for one hell of a ride. 


EDITOR IN CHIEF 




[»] 1 1 1' 


mf 

p Jr 

Heritage: Genus Oncoryhynchus 
Beverage of choice: Beer (any) 
Claim to fame: Reject model 
for Diesel 

Quote: “See you guys later. I’m 
going to have drinks with [name of 
PR flak]” 

Now playing: Unreal, Quake II, 
NHL '98 



THE TEAM 


EXECUTIVE EDITOR | 



MANAGING EDITOR | 

1 

Hpr 'mi 

^ I . 


ROB SMITHS | 


| CARRIE SHEPHERD^ 



Heritage: British 

Beverage of choice: Samuel Adams 
Boston Lager 

Claim to fame: Currently 124th in 
the world in Game, Net & Match 
Quote: “Bloody Yanks” 

Now playing: Unreal, FIFA World 
Cup ’98, Descent Freespace, NAM 


Pv 

Heritage: Massachusetts (Bloody 
Yank) 

Beverage of choice: Black tea 
Claim to fame: Ability to edit copy to 
the sounds of Quake 
Quote: “Hey [name of editor], stop 
playing [name of game] and get 
[name of story] in” 

Now playing: Flesh Feast, Redjack: 
Revenge of the Brethren, StarCraft 


14 



-| DISC/ASSISTANT EDITOR |- 


ASSOCIATE EDITOR |- 


DAN EGGER^ | 


ED “SLASH” LEE^ 


Heritage: Hick 

Beverage of choice: Pepsi and only 
Pepsi 

Claim to fame: Created Cone Of 
Tragedy 

Quote: "If someone says I’m crazy, 
then I must be doing something 
right” 

Now playing: Unreal, Battlezone, 
StarCraft 


Heritage: Assimilated minority 
Beverage of choice: Battery acid 
and/or Coke 

Claim to fame: Average arrival time 
is 10:18 

Quote: “Sorry I’m late” 

Now playing: Quake II, Unreal, NHL 
’98, RPS (rock, paper, scissors) 



Q! DOROQUEZ^S 


Heritage: The alphabet 
Beverage of choice: Anything with 
zing 

Claim to fame: Has unlimited access 
to strange and disturbing QuickTime 
movies 

Quote: “Not that there’s anything 
wrong with that” 

Now playing: NHL ’98, Unreal, Triple 
Play ’98 


! KYLE LeBOEUF ► |f 


ART DIRECTOR | 1 ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR |- 

1 ■ ■ 1 h g 


Heritage: French Texan 
Beverage of choice: Gin and tonic 
Claim to fame: Created a logo for a 
pile of steaming crap 
Quote: “Orange is a manly color, I 
swear” 

Now playing: Unreal, Turok, Photo- 
shop 



Caroline Simpson-Bint publisher 


EDITORIAL 


Mike Salmon 
Rob Smith 
Carrie Shepherd 
Dan Egger 

Ed “Slash” Lee 


editor in chief 
executive editor 
managing editor 
associate editor 
disc/assistant editor 


Contributing writers: Cliff Bleszinski, Chris Hudak, Bob Lindstrom, 
Peter Olafson, Marc Saltzman, Christian Svensson 
Pornographic consultant: Tom Russo 


ART 


Quintin Doroquez art director 

Kyle LeBoeuf assistant art director 

Contributing photographers: Aaron Lauer, Mark Madeo 
Contributing digital illustrator: Jim Carroll 


ADVERTISING 


Mike Rogers 
Debbie Burnett 
Erik Piller 
Dawnde Wallen 
Jane Jarvis 


PRODUCTION 


Richard Lesovoy 
Glenn Sadin 


national sales manager 
regional sales manager 
marketing manager 
account executive 
advertising coordinator 


production director 
production coordinator 


CIRCULATION 


Holly Klingel 
Stephanie Flanagan 
Bruce Eldridge 
Thea Selby 
Peggy Mores 
Amy Nibbi 
Kristi Chezum 
Clara Pon 
Quyen Nguyen 


vp circulation 
subscription director 
newsstand director 
newsstand manager 
fulfillment manager 
direct mail manager 
fulfillment specialist 
direct marketing specialist 
distribution marketing coordinator 


IMAGINE MEDIA, INC. 


Jonathon Simpson-Bint 
Tom Valentino 
Chris Anderson 

PC ACCELERATOR 
Editorial 

vox 415-468-4684 
fax 415-468-4686 
email letters@pcxl.com 


president, Imagine Games 
vice president/CFO 
president/CEO 


Advertising 
415-468-4684, ext. 150 
415-468-4686 
mrogers@pcxl.com 


PC ACCELERATOR is published monthly by Imagine Media, Inc., 150 
North Hill Drive, Brisbane, CA 94005, USA. Newsstand distribution 
is handled by the Curtis Circulation Company. Subscriptions: One 
year basic rate (12 issues): US: $30; Canada: $44; Foreign: $54 pre- 
paid, US funds only. Canadian price includes postage and GST 
(GST#Ri2822o688). For customer service, call 800-333-3890; in US, 
415-468-2500. For back issues, call 800-865-7240. POSTMASTER 
send changes of address to PC ACCELERATOR, PO Box 52681, Boul- 
der, CO 80322. 

Entire contents © 1998, Imagine Media, Inc. All rights reserved. 
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohib- 
ited. Imagine Media, Inc. also publishes Business 2.0, Game 
Buyer, MacAddict, Maximum PC, Next Generation, PC Gamer, and 
PSM. Products, characters, screenshots, etc. named and shown 
in these pages are tradenames or trademarks of their respective 
companies. Imagine Media, Inc. is not affiliated with the compa- 
nies or products covered in PC ACCELERATOR. 

Printed in the USA. 

Unsolicited manuscripts cannot be returned or acknowledged. 

We reserve the right to edit letters for space and clarity, and we 
may make fun of any content therein. This issue is dedicated to 
Starbucks. Love your chai tea latte! How do we get a franchise? 
Dear Dan’s Mom: Thanks for visiting! Bring cookies next time. 















— 




Odds 


this move: 10 to 1 


Odds of fathering children afterwards: 1,000,000 to 1 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 





LIKE A RECORD, BABY 


o 

T. 

IjJ 

a 


cu 

X 

o 

f- 

■€ 

CL 


CO 

o 

o 


CO 

CL 

C 

T. 


=> 

\ 


CO 

3 

ij-i 

l-H 

3 - 

LL 

Ixl 

I- 

X 


The PCXL DISC is what 


you've been waiting for 


A 


lot of PC game magazines have discs, and a lot of ’em have 
demos, but none of ’em have PCXL’s unique perspective. 

We are dedicated to giving you — the hardcore action 
gamer — the best games, and the best coverage of those 
games. You won’t find any demos for bowling games or WWII flight sims 
here. Combine the best, most focused content with a stunning, intuitive 
interface and what you have is a disc that can’t be touched. 

So enough hyperbole, let’s get to the goods: We’ve rounded up 12 of 
the hottest games right now to give you the stuff you really want. 

Note to those who didn’t get the CD: The magazine is great, huh? But 
look at all you’re missing by not getting the disc. Quit being a cheap 
bastard and get the disc edition! 






Got feedback? 
disceditor@pcxl.com 




(§jb 


HALF-LIFE 

World-exclusive shareware version of WorldCraft 
1.6, the level design utility used in the creation 
of Half-Life. Create maps for Quake, Quake II, and 
Heretic II. Also featured: a movie of gameplay 
featuring the game's intense action. 





UNREAL 

The next big thing? Five rockin’ deathmatch maps 
including the world -exclusive Cone Of Tragedy and 
Shooting Gallery. Be the first on your block to 
experience these masterpieces. 


© 



QUAKE II 

The essential Quake II archive: 3.14 playable demo, 
3.17 patch with CTF, GameSpy 2.01, EraserBot, 
QuickStart, JailBreak, and seven great DM maps. 

©© 
U UJ J 

■mec-W* 



MOTORACER £ 

An exclusive, early-look demo of the sequel to the 
best motorcycle game on the PC. 





DESCENT 

FREESPACE 

Find out why people are calling this one of the best, 
if not the best, space combat sim out there. 

© 




X-COM: 

INTERCEPTOR 

Finally, you get to kill those alien bastards in 
first-person! 

^ ^ 




BATTLEZONE 

This updated demo has full 3D card support, 
so let *er rip and check out those explosions! 

(p) 




STARCRAFT 

The demo. You know you want it. (With four all-new 
missions for StarCraft vets.) 





SCARS 

Race futuristic heavily armed cars and blow stuff up. 





CARMAGEDDON 

This is quickly becoming a classic. A Voodoo 2 
patch will give it a new lease on life. 



g| 


DAIKATANA 

Believing the hype yet? This trailer should tide you 
over until the real thing. 

© 




INCOMING 

Not just a tech demo, this game has the goods. 
Huge 3D board support. 









CONFIDENTIAL 



Upper management said 
we'd all get canned 
if we told you about our 

screaming new high-resolution 
2D/3D graphics card. 

But they didn't 
couldn't give you 

V 

www. soundblaster . com/hotgraphics/ 

[[Hey, how did that get there?] 





PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




Originality 5 6 

Story 3 

Graphics 8 10 

Multiplayer 10 


as well as some that didn’t make 
the list. But in the end we nar- 
rowed our picks down to five 
games that will definitely rise 
above the rest and take the genre 
to the next level. 

Do you think we’re wrong, 
insane, high on crack? Let us 
know where you stand and what 
you think of the upcoming first- 
person shooter war. Send rantings 
to umustbehigh@pcxl.com. 


So here’s our thinking 


Nothing got in the way 
of the killing in Quake II, nothing. Epic 
added clever monster movement, but 
there wasn’t the same edge to the pure 
visceral experience. 

Quake //’ s technical 


advances were far beyond anything else 
at the time, but boiled down to a very 
linear shooter. Unreal surpassed this 
■ slightly in its level structure. 


nere was a story for Quake II 
and Unreal, but neither interfered with 
the merciless slaughter of all the poly- 
gons in the world. 

In its time, Quake II ruled. 
But Unreal surpassed it with some 
stunning effects. 

uakell still dominates 
3 ng after its release, a statement on 
its leading-edge position. Unreal is 
struggling, though Epic continues to 
work on it. 


long after its releas 


Nothing outstripped Quake II 
for buzz factor (aside from Quake I, 
perhaps). 


is upon us 


The Standard 


••••)• A GANG OF WANNABE STARS ARE TAKING AIM AT BECOMING ... 


Since Quake II and Unreal are the cur- 
rent kings of the genre, we’ve rated 
them in key categories to act as bench- 
marks for the upcoming competition. 
Any game that can reach this level of 
perfection is considered a bona fide 
Quake Killer. 


W0- 


The future of 
first-person 
shooters 


CRITERIA 

Pure action 


QUAKE II 

10 


UNREAL 

8 


dog. Of course, since none of the 
mentioned games are finished, 
these ratings are subject to 
instant and radical change 
(although it isn’t likely). We’ve 
scoured the development commu- 
nity to find out which games hold 
promise and which have trouble 
holding water. 

Because we are such huge fans 
of the genre, we’re looking for- 
ward to all the games we mention, 


ou’ve heard the term 
“Quake Killer” used 
ever since Quake 
appeared and 
became the first-per- 
son shooter benchmark. But what 
does it actually mean? 

With Quake II now some nine 
months old, and the upstart 
Unreal garnering the plaudits, 
both engines have been released 
to the development community. If 
you’re into action gaming (and if 
you’re not, why are you reading?), 
the next 18 months are going to 
supply enough fraggin’ excite- 
ment to make you forget about 
the great outdoors (you know that 
bright place with lots of green that 
you see on the way to EB?). 

We’ve taken all the upcoming 
games and rated them on their 
potential to top the first-person 
shooter pile — these are the ones 
that you’re gonna have to play. 
Our ratings are based on what 
we’ve seen in demos, what we’ve 
learned from talking to the devel- 
opers, and from our expert sense 
of what’s going to make a game 
the one to beat. We reckon we’re 
on the money — to the point that 
we gave all upcoming first-person 
shooters odds on being the top 







The Genuine 


Killers 


e had to make a 
stand. There 
are so many 
damned first- 
person shoot- 
ers on the way between now and 
the end of ’99 that the options for 
gunslingers will be almost endless. 


w 


Still, only a few are currently 
showing the hallmarks of quality 
necessary to gib Quake II. What 
bizarre thinking or mind-altering 
substances were we doing when 
the call was made? Well, pure 
action tops the list. We want to 
see the games ready to get those 


adrenal glands pumping with over- 
doses of the natural action drug. 
However a solid story and deep 
gameplay don’t hurt either. 

So stand up and take a bow, Half- 
Life, Sin, Daikatana, Prey, and Duke 
Nukem Forever. Developers and 
gamers alike await your completion. 



DEVELOPER ■■■}■ 3D Realms 
PUBLISHER-;- GT Interactive 


The skinny: Portal technology is 
the hot, upcoming buzzword, and 
Prey kicked that off. Incredible 
environment effects are shaping an 
intriguing immersive experience. 

Why it's better 
than Quake II: Paul Schuyetma, 
lead designer, 3D Realms: “Prey and 
Quake II are trying to do different 
things, and in my opinion, Quake II 
did what it set out to do very well. 

On a pure technology side, we have 
the obvious advantages of truly 




< 

9 

dynamic geometry and a more flexi- 

world unlike any other we’ve 

Cd 

Ul 


ble and refined lighting system. 

seen. When players can go 

1- 


There are some other things as well, 

into any building and destroy 

Cd 

9 

but they’re more subtle and eso- 

everything from the leather 

u 


teric. On the gameplay side of 

sofa to the roof, then we’re 



things. I’ll pass on that answer. 

talking about a morphing uni- 


7 

since Quake II is out and plays well 

verse that catapults them into 



and we’re still in development — 

a different world each game 


9 

any gameplay statements we make 

depending on how it’s played. 



are pure conjecture and purely edu- 

While the technology looks 



cated guesses.” 

great, we haven’t played much 
of the game. However, given 


8 

The PCXL take: From what 

3D Realms’ proven track 



we’ve seen, Prey and the technol- 

record, we feel strongly that 


*_* 

ogy behind it are truly the next 

Prey is likely to be the best 3D 



step in 3D gaming. The realistic 

shooter released in 1999 — that 


Cfi 

environments and complete inter- 

is, if the game is actually 



action with them create a virtual 

finished in 1999. 




Pure action: There's no way that this 
portal technology is going to waste. It 
offers more mind-screwing ways to kill 
the other guy. 

Originality: Portal technology seems 
amazingly open-ended in the options 
available to level designers. 

Story: Talon Brave is set to become a 
long-term franchise. Not as cute as Lara, 
but he has feathers. 


Graphics: Amazing special effects, 
mind-melting portal tricks, and hyper- 
detailed architecture. 


Multiplayer: Innovative weapons uti- 
lizing the portals are gonna fry minds as 
well as bodies. 


Buzz: Since it was conceived, it had a 
buzz. A challenger to Unreal for the next 
big hype machine. 

Score 




PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 






PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




or both software and hardware) 
create a much richer single-player 
experience.” 


Half-Life 


DEVELOPER Valve Software 

PUBLISHER — v Sierra 


The skinny: Take the best ele- 
ments from the code of Quake, 
GLQuake, QuakeWorld, and 
Quake II, throw in a whole bunch 
of your own scripted events, fully 
featured WorldCraft level editor, 
multiplayer add-on courtesy of 
Team Fortress, and it’s a hugely 
compelling mix. 


Why it's better 
than Quake II: Gabe Newell, 
managing director. Valve Soft- 
ware: "... scripted sequences, a 
very sophisticated Al, and a great 
visual toolkit (that enables all the 
cool effects like decals, beam 
effects, and procedural textures 


The PCXL take: A first-person 
shooter with brains and brawn, 
Half-Life has the entire develop- 
ment and gaming community wait- 
ing for a chance to play it. Team 
Fortress multiplayer is crucial to 
Half-Life’ s life, it’s just too bad it 
doesn’t come with the game. 



< 7 

Pure action: Thought and strategy 


will be vital to the killing spree. But 

W 

there will be a major beast killfest. 

t 9 

Originality: A shooter with a real 

cr 

brain — that’s genuinely original. 

u 9 

Story: You’re trapped by the govern- 


ment and the beasts of hell. Sounds 


like a story. 

7 

Graphics: The engine’s not the best 


anymore, but the detail is exquisite. 

7 

Multiplayer: Team Fortress 2 will 


come as an add-on. Out of box there are 


thoughtful touches. 

0 

BUZZ: It’s been delayed long enough 


to gather momentum. Everyone seems 


to be excited about it. 

47 

Score 






guys hide, attack, retreat, and jf* 
think about what they are K) 
doing. We wanted to re-create 
a lot of real-world environ- fe 
ments (or at least model after 
them). Use of audio sidekick 
j.C. is unique. It will help guide I 
the player through the game “ 
with audio clues, helpful hints, 
witty banter, and crazy wisecracks. 
[Sounds like a pitch for a new sit- 
com!] The mood music also 
changes as the action changes.” 


9 

Pure action: Using the Quake II 
engine, that same action intensity is 
expected. 

0 

Originality: ABOs make playing 
the single-player game more than once 
a plus. Design style appears to be 
“Quake II, but more so.” 

7 

Story: Futuristic drug lords. Big 
whoop. But a hot biochemist vixen is a 
definite plus. 

7 

Graphics: Er, Quake II, but more so. 
Real-world settings are a distinct 
selling point. 

0 

Multiplayer: Deathmatches in the 
real-world setting are what every 
shooter fan has wanted. And the ulti- 
mate sniper rifle is incredible. 

7 

Buzz: Everyone who has seen it is 
mighty impressed. The use of vixen 
Elexis Sinclaire will help. 

46 

Score 


The PCXL take: The powerful 
weapons, interactive backgrounds, 
and real-world setting are starting 
to make Sin look more and more 
like the real thing. 


Why it’s better 
than Quake II: joe Selinske, 
project manager, Ritual Entertain- 
ment: “ABOs (Action-Based Out- 
comes) allow you to affect other 
levels later on in the game. One lit- 
tle action can trigger big changes 
in later levels and could make 
things incredibly hard. It’s a much 
more interactive world with lots of 
moving machinery, puzzles, and 
destroyable environments. Our 
character Al is beefed up. The 


V 

HR 


DEVELOPER — j> Ritual Entertainment 
PUBLISHER-? Activision 


he skinny: It’s the team behind 
the Scourge ofArmagon Quake 
add-on. Good creative level 
designers (including the self- 
styled Levelord) should push the 
Quake II engine to its limits. It’s 
also likely to be the first game out. 


What They're Saying 


UHO KNOWS MORE ABOUT THE FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER GENRE 
THAN THE GUyS UHO MAKE THE GAMES? 


THE DEVELOPERS OF THESE GAMES 
ARE ALSO THE BIGGEST FANS, SO WE 
ASKED THEM A FEW QUESTIONS TO 
SEE WHAT THE FUTURE MIGHT HOLD 
FOR THE GENRE. JUST FROM THEIR 
RESPONSES WE CAN TELL CLEARLY 
WHICH DIRECTION THE GENRE IS 
HEADING - AND IT'S ALL GOOD. 



What is the 
best 3D engine, 
and why? 

John Romero, 
Daikatana : 

“ Unreal , because 
you can make 
your game bigger, prettier, and cheaper 
than any other engine available at this 
time.” 


John Romero 


Why does story matter — or does it? 
Seamus Blackley, Trespasser : “It’s 
really about setting up a cool place 
where a bunch of interesting things can 
happen, and letting the player be the 
star. I am really against games that try 
to shove a lot of plot down the player’s 
throat. It’s not about that.” 

Glen Dahlgren, Wheel of Time : “It 
absolutely matters. I don’t believe that a 
story has ever been effectively told in 


this genre. Story gives motivation, it 
explains why things happen, and it can 
be the impetus to keep someone playing 
until the end. I’ve yet to play a FPS 
where I actually cared about the plot. If I 
finished the game, it was for totally dif- 
ferent reasons.” 







Do you see level editing utilities 
as a key component? 

Seamus Blackley: “It’s cool. However, 
it should not be there to make up for 
lack of interesting gameplay or lack- 
luster level design. Ditto for multi- 
player. Neither should be a crutch for 
a shitty single-player environment.” 


has to keep him interested. This is 
accomplished through balance (don’t 
piss anyone off), ease of use (don’t 
make it hard to get started), and solid- 
ity (don’t piss any- 
one off). It is also 
accomplished 
through providing 
feelings that can’t 
be received any- 
where else.” 


than any other engine available at 
this time.” 


Originality: RPG focus and the use 
of NPCs to help out offer a real chance 
for character interaction and a sense of 
being involved in a fierce struggle in a 
real (but fantastic) world. 


Story: Time traveling offers plenty 
of opportunities. As do big swords. 
Daikatana has both. 


Graphics: New textures within the 
Quake II engine have started to bring 
ancient Greece to life with impressive 
style. 


Multiplayer: Romero: “Cool, 
balanced weapons being used in fast, 
beautiful killing arenas.” Perfect 
philosophy. Execution TBD. 


BUZZ: Has Romero still got it? Delays 
in shipping don’t help, and everyone 
seems to want to knock the first 
industry “star.” 


Score 


Why it's better 
than Quake II: John Romero, 
game designer, Ion Storm: 
“Smoother animation, more vari- 
ety, more story, character cus- 
tomization, better physics.” 
Despite using the Quake II 
engine for this game, Ion Storm’s 
out-of-house development of 
Daikatana 2 has turned to Unreal 
because “you can make your 
game bigger, prettier, and cheaper 


Pure action: With all those 
monsters (some 80) and all those 
weapons (some 32) the action 
quotient won’t be lacking, despite 
the RPG skew. 


The skinny: Game designer 
John Romero has a reputation to 
keep. The RPG/action blend pro- 
vides a background of possibilities 
for character development. 


The PCXL take: Daikatana’s 
levels and monsters look incredi- 
ble, but we’re still waiting to see if 
Romero and Ion Storm can pull off 
the sidekick Al as promised. It’s 
likely this feature won’t make it. 


Story: Duke versus the alien scum. Not 
astounding, but it's the way he disposes 
of them that counts. 


The skinny: Duke’s latest 
adventure turns from the Quake II 
engine to Unreal in order to create 
the levels and immersive environ- 
ment interaction that was the hall- 
mark of Duke 3D. The big ques- 
tion: When is this game going to 
come out? 


Graphics: The change to the Unreal 
engine is key. Expect a dynamic environ- 
ment. 


Multiplayer: Level design has always 
been good at 3D Realms, but the Unreal 
engine is still unproven. 


Buzz: News of the engine change 
spread like wildfire over the Internet. 


Score 


Why it's better 
than Quake II: That engine 
change says a lot. George Brous- 
sard has been quick to answer 
questions about this change, most 
importantly over the delay it will 
cause. The answer “four to six 
weeks” is surprising. 3D Realms’ 


determinatiorfto create the fun 
and excitement that made Duke 
such a hit is already evident. And 
with a Las Vegas setting, it looks 
like the 3D Realms guys will have 
to do some more research at the 
strip joints. Hey, need any help? 


The PCXL take: Running 
on the Quake II engine, Duke 
Nukem Forever already looked 
like a winner. With the addi- 
tion of the scripting and 
graphic capabilities of Unreal, 
we’re drooling in anticipation. 


Pure action: This is Duke. Action is 
all he knows how to get. 


Originality: Always high throughout 
Duke, and the same design philosophy 
carries over. 


What makes up your mind 
on using licensed engines or I 
creating your own? 

Gabe Newell, H alf-L ife: I ^ 

“john Carmack had done 
some great work on render- 
ing static environments that would 
have taken us a long time to duplicate. 
Instead we decided to focus on aspects 
of the engine like animation and Al. We 
have to pay license fees, but we get a 


better game out to cus- 
tomers sooner with less 
risk. With 20-20 hindsight 
we are still completely 
pleased with the decision.” 


What is the key to great multiplayer? 
Evan Margolin, Requiem: “Balance, 
balance, and more balance.” 

Randy Pitchford, Prax War : “Once 
someone tries the game, the designer 


DEVELOPER •••$• Ion Storm 

PUBLISHER-;- Eidos 


Duke Nukem 
Forever ^ 


DEVELOPER ■■■’* 3 D Realms 
PUBLISHER -5- GT Interactive 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 










I AM ONE WITH THE CROSSHAIRS 


I AM A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH 


#1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and Urban Assault are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. 


HAVE AN ENORMOUS TANK BATTALION 


HAVE AN ARSENAL OF WEAPONS AT MY FINGERTIPS 




I’VE DESTROYED BUILDINGS IN MY WAY. 


TE R^ATOOLS 

Computer Graphics Solutions 


Hey hot shot, you’re dead because you didn’t think. To save the Earth in Urban Assault 1 ; 
you must manage your resources, upgrade your technologies, control your squadrons, and deploy your troops 
using an interactive map. All this at the same time you’re shooting everything in sight. 


Microsoft 


I’VE DRIVEN MY VEHICLES LIKE A MANIAC. 


I’VE TELEPORTED INTO MY SATELLITE. 


A 



I dead! 


TORCHED A TAERKAST BIPLANE. 


ft 


l i 











JX 



~ - : -■ 



I HAVE THE FIERCE AIR FORCE. 


I KNOW HOW TO DEFEND MY HOST STATION. 

i . m mi v ■ ' 


.C *. .' s 


i; . Aji 
• M ~ * cj|§ 
4 m 


Sri. 


i 1 ■ i-j 

. i- v,,y . : 1 il . 


i 


■ ijal- |i.' , . 

>* - , t v •• 




m 


* 


It’s the perfect blend of action and strategy that you can make even more 
challenging with multiplayer capabilities. So use that gray matter. Or you’ll lose it. 
Think yourself over to www.microsoft.com/games/urbanassault 


fWt 








PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



... And 
the rest 


he accolade of being a 
bona fide Quake Killer 
is not something easily 
bestowed by the PCXL 
staff. So why didn’t 
these make the grade? In many 
cases it’s simply too early to really 
get a feel for their potential — 


Amen and Prax War, for example. In 
our insatiable desire for all games 
action-based, the PCXL staff is look- 
ing forward to all of them — particu- 
larly Trespasser (even with no multi- 
player gameplay), Max Payne, and 
Klingon Honor Guard. 

Where story comes to the fore, 


perhaps that crucial action quo- 
tient is curtailed. So the question 
is, what are you looking for in your 
first-person shooters? Now get a 
sense of some of those forthcom- 
ing games that are vying to be in 
that Quake-Killer category, some of 
which will die trying ... 





The skinny: As framed cop Max 
Payne, you’re taking no prisoners 
on an adventure through New York 
to avenge your family’s slaughter. 
The story is delivered through 
character interaction. 

Why it's better 
than Quake II: Scott Miller, 
president, 3D Realms: “Max is a 
different game in dozens of ways, 
such as in-game character interac- 
tions, style of gameplay, third-per- 



Why it's not: Everything 
we’ve seen on Max Payne is 
mighty impressive, but there 
still hasn’t been a decent third- 
person multiplayer game. 

Could this be the first? In the 
following months we’ll find out. 


son perspective, realistic loca- 
tions, realistic weapons (noth- 
ing sci-fi), all characters will 
talk during the game’s action 
(giving the game more of a 
movie feel), and of course 
superior technology that will 
be as good as any available at 
the time of the game’s release.” 


Wheel of Ti 



fortresses. Strategic spell combat 
— it’s more important to make the 
right decisions than to be the first 
offe to pull the trigger. Deathmatch 
is a much more strategic experi- 
ence, while remaining just as vis- 
ceral. Real-world architecture — 
we’ve gone to some lengths to cre- 
ate spaces that feel real. Single- 



player depth — a compelling 
story — very much in the Jor- 
dan tradition — supported by 
in-game cinematics, dialogues 
with NPCs, scripted story 
events, dynamic mission objec- 
tives, and real character devel- 
opment derived from the plot. 

It has a definite beginning, 
middle, and end. It has a clear 
focus and a point. Many of the 
game’s elements have been 
developed with multiplayer 
solely in mind.” 



n 

Pure action: A high action quotient 
working within the story-powered 
framework. 


Originality: A modern setting and 

DC. 

adventure concept put a different spin on 

U 

the straight-up shooter. 

9 

Story: Max has real purpose. A 
murdered boss and slaughtered family 
provide a backbone for many twists and 
turns. 

3 

Graphics: It’s a whole new engine 
(with help from the Prey development 
team). And it has some of the best 
weapons and smoke effects we’ve seen. 

6 

Multiplayer: No real info, but the set- 
ting is perfect for some third-person 
street battles. 

4 

Buzz: Known mainly to the develop- 
ment community, expect the buzz to 
get louder. 

43 

Score 


< 

DC 

6 

Pure action: There’s gonna be killin’ 
but there’s gonna be plenty of thinkin’. 

UJ 

1 - 

DC 

8 

Originality: A combination of action 
and strategy within a living world frame- 
work is a compelling premise. 

U 

9 

Story: Jordan is one of the hottest fan- 
tasy authors, and Dahlgren’s credits 
include Death Gate, an adventure with a 
thought-provoking story. 


9 

Graphics-. We know what the Unreal 
engine is capable of. With Legend’s tal- 
ented fantasy artists, the cities of Jor- 
dan’s world are likely to come alive. 


c 

Multiplayer: It’s difficult to work out 
how the detail of the single-player game 
will cross over, but Internet problems 
should be fixed by ship date. 


■7 

i 

Buzz: The Unreal engine and a positive 
buzz from E3 are only the start of what 
could be big things for Legend. 


44 

Score 



What is your all-time favorite 
first-person shooter weapon? 

John Romero: “The rocket launcher. 
Or double-barreled shotgun.” 

Glen Dahlgren: “I probably had the 

most fun with the sniper rifle in Gold- 

enEye [N64]. It was a 

very different (and 

cool) experience than 

what I’d encountered 

up until then. Of ^ 

course, my answer will *(• 

be different after we 


choking in pain. Another favorite 
weapon I loved to hate was the rocket 
launcher from Quake. A friend of mine 
would always play against me on Edge 
of Oblivion and use the rocket’s splash 
damage to blow me off the level, thus 


falling to my death. Man, 1 hated that.” 
Dan Freed, Heretic II: “The phoenix rod 
from the original Heretic .” 

Gabe Newell: “The first time I started up 
the chainsaw in Doom was one of the best 
moments I’ve had playing a computer 
game.” 

John Broomhall,X-CO/W 
Alliance: “The chainsaw 
from Doom and Doom II — 
~ r > does that make me a bad 

person?” (No, it makes 
you a PCXL person) 


release our game.” . 

Joe Selinske, Sin: “Going back to Doom 
and Doom II, the plasma rifle. It was very 
satisfying to lay down a spread of fire, 
strafe around someone, and keep ham- 
mering away at them until they died 





>vw 


_ ? X 


i l 4* r 'i cq c* 

i! Wj«rP I r4 { Yth? r 

I DEPLOYED MY GUYS USING THE TRANSPARENT MAP. 




I TOLD MY GUYS TO ATTACK FROM BOTH FLANKS. 


i.,j L,J 


L.J m" L,J 


1 


1 TL,-* | 

QSS^ Xt ' ■ ~. S 


v S r~i j • r 
i t -1 ?! 


:i 1 H 


! 4 CT 


I KNOW WHERE THE TECH UPGRADE SECTOR IS. 


I KNOW WHERE TO PLACE MY HOST STATION. 


r -i ~ H rn B" 

■ Li ■- ? . ... 



2i2 Lr a 


: 




KNOW WHERE THE POWER STATIONS ARE. 


S*0 WHY AM I STILL DEAD? 



Create your squadrons and set their level of 
aggressiveness to defend, attack, or raid. 



Hey mastermind, you’re dead because you didn’t get your hands dirty. Battle 5 unique alien and human enemy races. 


In Urban Assault, you have to battle on the frenzied front lines at the same time 
you’re strategizing the entire war. Of course, your years studying at military 
school will come in handy, but to win, you better warm up that trigger finger. 
Shoot your browser over to www.microsoft.com/games/urbanassault. 



1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and Urban Assault are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. 




» 




Why it's better 
than Quake II: Seamus Black- 
ley, project leader, Dreamworks: “I 
think we are trying to do some- 
thing fundamentally different than 


Trespasser 

DEVELOPER — >• Dreamworks Interactive 
PUBLISHER — Dreamworks Interactive 

The skinny: Dinosaurs. Dream- 
works uses the Spielberg connec- 
tion to create the game that the 
Lost World movie failed to be. 


’ Quake, so it’s hard to say if some- 
thing is ‘better.’ Also, Quake is a 
real work of art. It feels really 
good, really solid, really finished 
and tweaked. The five most differ- 
ent things, I think, are pretty clear. 


First, we render the outdoors. 
Second, we don’t special case 
anything, so, for instance, any- 
thing you can pick up is a 
weapon. Third, our player char- 
acter is just a normal person. 
Fourth, we cop a much more 
realistic style, so for instance 
all our guns are actually 
licensed so they look and 
sound like the real thing. And 
finally, we have dinosaurs.” 

Why it's not: There isn’t 
going to be a multiplayerver- 
sion. ’Nuff said! 


< 

6 

Pure action: Many dinosaurs to try 

X 


to make extinct again. 

w 

8 

Originality: An original engine 



creates incredible outdoor scenes, and a 

X 


real-world physics model creates an 

u 


immersive environment. 


6 

Story: The story of the movie was not 
great. Use of the actors’ voices helps. 


9 

Graphics: Those dinosaurs look so 
damn real, with the skin texture pulsing 
over the skeleton. 


0 

Multiplayer: Oops. 


y 

Buzz: The fact that there’s any hype at 
all shows the kind of impression this 
game is making on people. 


O'? 

1 

Score 



The Awakening 


DEVELOPER ••• y Cavedog Entertainment 
PUBLISHER •••$• Cavedog Entertainment 

The skinny: Greg MacMartin, 
lead designer, Cavedog: “You’ll 
really feel like you’re a major 
player in a 50-hour James 
Cameron movie.” It’s an ambitious 
approach. Let’s just hope it does- 
n’t sink. The Amengine looks to be 
capable of competing with Unreal. 


Why it's better 
than Quake II: Greg MacMartin: 
“We are striving to give the player 
experiences that he has never had 
before, like jumping out of an air- 
plane and exploring realistic places 
like a built-to-scale aircraft carrier. I 
think Amen’s key difference will be 
the unique blend of the 3D action 
and adventure genres. You get the 
in-your-face, intense first-person 
action found in shooters along with 
the epic storyline, inventory sys- 
tem, characters, and overall depth 
of adventure games.” 


Prax War 


DEVELOPER -i Rebel Boat Rocker 
PUBLISHER — ‘e Electronic Arts 


The skinny: A new engine based 
on modular Java-script has the 
flexibility to deal with indoor and 
outdoor environs. And the Java 
base will help Internet play and 
user customization. 

Why it's better 

than Quake II: Randy Pitchford, 

lead level designer, Rebel Boat 



Rocker: “A real world with recog- 
nizable, dynamic areas in a consis- 
tent near future (2032) world. Four 
characters will be present 
throughout the game, helping the 
player and doing tons of cool stuff. 



Why it's not: It’s an impres- 
sive first foray into the first- 
person shooter genre by Cave- 
dog, but the company has a 
bunch to prove against some 
wicked competition. 


< 

7 

Pure action: The adventure style in 

X 


its puzzles may detract from some of the 

w 


promised mayhem. 

1 - 

7 

Originality: Designed in full before 

X 


the code was written, the Amengine 

u 


should produce some memorable events. 


6 

Story: You’re a trained commando. 


y 

Graphics: Early shots show beauti- 
fully lit, elegantly designed real-world 
environs created to scale. 


6 

Multiplayer: Here’s the philosophy: 
“A balance between different strategies 
that allow players with different play 
styles to still be good at the game.” 


c 

Buzz: It’s just starting, but early 
screens and info look hot. 


39 

Score 


For multiplayer, Java game 
architecture is safe and Inter- 
net friendly. You can ride in or 
actually drive vehicles in the 
air, on land, on the water, and 
underwater. Interactive envi- 
ronments. The highest polygon 
budgets in a first-person 
shooter to date.” 


< 

X 


X 

u 


Why it's not: We just 
haven’t seen enough on this 
game to get a fair reading. We 
are excited about the 
prospects, but cautious of 
bestowing too much praise. 


8 

Pure action: Team action is 
promised, as is the use of vehicles. 

1 

Originality: Extra characters, 
different playing styles, and the Java 
code should allow some new touches. 

6 

Story: A corrupt power company holds 
the world hostage. Go save the world, 
Special Forces Dude. 

7 

1 

Graphics: It’s a whole new java- 
based engine, but the early shots show 
promise of real detail. 

7 

Multiplayer: Solid design premises, 
with Java’s Internet-friendly base, create 
real potential. 

4 

BUZZ: Little has been heard so far, but 
the design philosophy is certainly solid. 

40 

Score 




03 : 

5 What They're Saying 


Greg MacMartin, A men: The Awak- 

salt in Requiem will 



ally first seen in Shadow Warrior).” 


or the Duke Nukem miniaturizer. The axe 

ening: “The Doom II double-barreled 

change all that.” 


was just brilliantly tuned. But the minia- 

Developer X,5 tar Trek: Klingon 

shotgun was awesome.” 

Paul Schuytema, 


turizer was really funny.” 

Honor Guard : “The Quake 1 rocket 

Paul Butterfield, Shogo: Mobile 

Prey: “This may 


Randy Pitchford: “ Doom II super shot- 

launcher! Simple to use yet difficult to 

Armor Division : “The plasma rifle 

sound strange, but 


gun ... without a doubt.” 

master. Once mastered this weapon is 

in Doom II. 1 loved the sound, the 

for me it was the 


Scott Miller, Max Payne : “1 can’t pick 

devastating to any opponent.” 

effect, the whole thing.” 

laser trip bomb in 


just one, because 1 like several for differ- 
ent reasons. The shotgun (from various 

David Stalker, Alien vs. Predator : 

Evan Margolin: “1 fear that this is 

Duke 3 D — that 


“Rocket launcher.” 

going to be too cliche an answer, 

weapon really allowed you to interact 

games) is hard to beat as the best all- 


however the rocket launcher in Quake 

with the environment and become a 

around weapon, but other fun weapons 


probably got most of my play time, 

thinking player rather than just a twitch 

include the firewall blast from Rise of 


quickly followed by the chaingun in 
Doom. However, turning people to 

player.” 

Seamus Blackley: “Either the Quake axe, 

the Triad, Duke Nukem 3 D’ s shrinker, 
and Quake IT s rail gun (which was actu- 












* 


Shogo: 

Mobile Armor Division 


DEVELOPER 

•••:• Monolith Productions 

PUBLISHER- 

Monolith Productions 


The skinny: Japanese 
anime-influenced combat in a 
detailed world, backed by realtime 
instructions from well-docu- 
mented characters. 

Why it's better 

than Quake II: Paul Butterfield, 


public relations manager, Monolith 
Productions: “Character develop- 
ment and storyline: Sanjuro Makabe 
(the main character) experiences a 
range of emotion. [Through] two dif- 
ferent modes of play (on foot and 
piloting a 30-foot-tall anime-inspired 
mecha), you’ll have access to two 
completely separate arsenals, with 
each mode offering 10 unique 
weapons. All of our characters have 
motion-captured animation. Plus, 
we’ve got hit detection for our 
bipedal enemies, which allows limb- 
specific animations when you shoot 
enemies. So if you shoot a guy in 




Why it's not: As far as we 
know, mechs don’t bleed, and 
anime is just plain weird. 


Pure action: Don’t expect too many 
taxing puzzles and Shakespearean dia- 
logue in an anime game. 


Originality: Anime-styte games 
haven't made an impact on the PC, but 
the setting is ripe for wild action. 

Story: Character interaction and direc- 
tion is carefully woven into the plot. 

Graphics: The LithTech engine accom- 
modates the color and flexibility the 
anime game style requires. 

Multiplayer: Development tools for 
user levels will help provide variation. 


Buzz: Anime has a devoted following. 
Crossing the humor style over to the 
mainstream might be tough. 

Score 


Heretic life 

DEVELOPER — i- Raven Software 
PUBLISHER Activision 

Irne skinny: Heretic, the 
’medieval fantasy using the Doom 
engine, goes third person using 
the Quake II engine. Detailed art- 
work and textures look incredible. 



tons of variety. The levels 
range from city streets to out- 
doors in a swamp or a canyon. 
Most of the areas of the game 
are grouped together, and 
each of these groups has a set 
of monsters associated with 
them. So you really get a sense 
of a variety of monsters.” 


Why it's better 
than Quake il: Dan Freed, pro- 
ject administrator, Raven Software: 
“We are better looking than Quake 


II, primarily due to the fact that we 
are using 24-bit color. We have put 
some real effort into improving the 
monster Al. Our levels are full of 
mood and atmosphere. We have 


Why it's not: The game 
plays more like Nightmare 
Creatures, taking away the 
ability to precisely aim 
weapons and spells. 


X-COM* 

Alliance 



DEVELOPER • 

MicroProse 

PUBLISHER- 

MicroProse 


The skinny: Take the classic 
turn-based strategy and put it in an 
Unreal engine-based first-person 
style. Strategy still plays a part in 
moving your team members, and 
technology-building elements of 
the franchise should add a twist to 
this genre. The communication 
with team members is nice. 



Why it's better 
than Quake II: 

John Broomhall, 
producer, Micro- 
Prose: “Control of 
multiple troopers, 
with simultaneous 
trooper viewpoints 
[you get to see 
what they can see 
in windows on 
your display]. Adjustable overhead 
maps, both on blackscreen and 
overlaid over the 3D view. Full 
squad management and strategic 
use of troopers — not just run and 
gun. Truly interactive music via live 


multi-channel 
CD-streaming. A 
great unfolding 
storyline based 
in the X-COM 
universe!” 

Why it's not: 

It’ll be different, 
but is that 
good? We worry 
the action could be secondary 
to the strategy. MicroProse still 
needs to prove itself in this cat- 
egory. However, Starship 
Troopers and Klingon Honor 
Guard both look good as well. 


< 

s 

Pure action: Whether spells or fantasy 

tr 


weapons, the concept is simple and sweet. 

w 

t« 

Originality: Third-person will be 



different, but it’s a sequel, so expect the 

tr 


same game style. 

u 

6 

Story: Corvus returns in a search for 
the cure to a deadly plague. 


? 

Graphics: There’s more color and 
detail than in Quake II, but still a certain 
drabness to the textures. 


7 

Multiplayer: The combo of defensive 
and offensive mana for spells plus fan- 
tasy weapons holds promise. 


7 

Buzz: Raven’s background is solid. 
Expect the same buzz as Heretic had 
when coming after Doom. 


-41 

Score 


< 6 

Pure action: With teams to accom- 


modate and maps to watch there will be 

UJ 

a lot to occupy the gray matter. 

H 0 

Originality: The tactical level of mov- 

c r 

ing troopers, with the technical options 

u 

provided by the Unreal engine. 

7 

Story: More alien threats, but this time 


you get down and dirty with your team. 

C; 

Graphics: Unreal engine = good looks. 


Detailed textures in the early levels 


created so far look the part. 

•7 

Multiplayer: Communicating with 


team members will add a tactical element. 

6 

BUZZ: X-COM' s progression to first-per- 


son, backed by the Unreal engine, is 


definitely one to watch. 

42 

Score 


What is the future of the genre? 

Joe Selinske: “Game design will con- 
tinue to get more complex and deeper 
with more intricate and detailed story- 
lines.” 

Dan Freed: “I think that the genre will 
continue to mature to the point of nearly 
total immersion. Heck, maybe someday 
‘Star Trek”s holo-deck will exist. But, in 
the more immediate future, i think the 
addition of multiple monitor support in 
Win98 we can expect to see this becom- 
ing a feature in the genre. I also expect 


that VR goggles may make a comeback, 
now that the technology is finally at a 
point where it is feasible.” 

John Broomhall: “In the short-term, bet- 
ter storylines and more strategy to get 
people more involved in the games 
they’re playing. Longer-term I guess it’ll 
be persistent-universe games and huge 
online games with huge numbers of 
players in city-sized maps ... I’m looking 
forward to that.” 

Greg MacMartin: “I think we will see a 
much stronger focus on unique content 


and storylines than we are seeing now. 
Especially when we get past the current 
fixation on engine features, statistics, 
etc.” 

Paul Butterfield: “By the beginning of 
’99, software rendering will be dead. 
There’s almost no need to spend time 
developing games that don’t require 
hardware.” 


Most anticipated: 

We asked all these developers which 
five first-person shooters they were 
most anticipating. Here are the top 
five, with the number of people who 
mentioned them: 


Half-Life 

12 

Sin 

7 

Duke Nukem Forever 

6 

Prey 

6 

Daikatana 

4 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 









PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 





The skinny: Battles of heavenly 
proportions as Malachi confronts 
the dark angels. Spells of divine ori- 
gin and all manner of other reli- 
gious paraphernalia set up a con- 
frontation with the dark side that’s 
bound to cause controversy. 

Why it's better t 

than Quake li: Evan Margolin, 



executive pro- 
ducer, Cyclone 
Studios: 

“Requiem is all 
about delivering 
that immersive, 
action-oriented 
combat, but it’s 
also about inter- 
action, realism, 
and one hell of a story. We’ve built 
our technology from the ground up, 
and we’ve come away with our own 
defined look and the ability to rede- 
fine our game play. Our look feels 
different, and it’s absolutely gor- 


geous. Our artists 
have created some 
of the most unique 
enemies ever seen. 
The programmers 
have done an 
incredible job cre- 
ating an Emotive 
Animation Technol- 
ogy that gives crea- 
tures and NPCs a level of ani- 
mation that is unsurpassed.” 

Why it's not: Brilliant ideas, 
solid engine, but can it stand 
up to the big boys? 


Star Trek!* 

Klingon Honor Guard 


DEVELOPER •••$• MicroProse 
PUBLISHER •••;> MicroProse 

The skinny: Essentially, Klingon 
Honor Guard is a “Star T rek” total 
conversion for Unreal. New character 
art and weapons straight out of the 
series offers the Klingon perspective 
that “Star Trek” gamers have yet to 
experience. Early versions show 
plenty of the necessary blood. 



Why it's better 
than Quake II: Klingon Honor 
Guard team, MicroProse: “Supe- 
rior Al that uses cover to hide from 


players as well as working in 
groups to eliminate the player. 
Immersive reproduction of the 
Klingon universe. Ten unique 
weapons including the D’k 
tagh knife and Bat’ leth blade 
from the series. An evolving 
storyline delivered by actual 
‘Star Trek: The Next Genera- 
tion’ personalities.” 

Why it's not: The limits of 
the “Star Trek” license and the 
problems with Unreal multi- 
player code could be a problem. 


< 
a : 

U ) 

~7 

Pure action: Picking and choosing 
between which characters to turn to salt 
should still keep the action up. 

V- 

cr 

S 

Originality: involvement with NPCs is 
key to the gameplay. 



Story: Milton’s Paradise Lost was an 
inspiration, as heavenly wars caused the 
shit to fly among the angels. 


■7 

Graphics: Detailed animations will 
make the all-important NPCs come alive. 


c 

Multiplayer: One-on-one play is likely 
easier to accomplish, but gamers love 
aiming to top a pile of 16 or more. 



Buzz: The marketing machine will 
heighten the hype with this controversial 
subject matter. 


43 

Score 



Pure action: It's Klingons, dammit. 
They don’t know what else to do but fight. 

Originality: Scores points for the 
Klingon perspective and the prominence 
of melee combat. 



Story: Chasing the perpetrators of an 
assassination attempt on the Klingon boss. 



Graphics: It's tough to not look good 
with the Unreal engine, but the environ- 
ments are looking good and the charac- 
ter detail is excellent. 


Multiplayer: The multiplayer game 
will suffer from Unrects current problems. 


Buzz: It’s not receiving the attention it 
may deserve as the first commercial 
Unreal-based game to appear. 


4£ 


Score 


Jllien vs. 
-^Predator 



DEVELOPER •• 

:> Fox Interactive 

PUBLISHER- 

Fox Interactive 


The skinny: It’s been attempted 
before, but the Fox license offers 
the official version deal to the 
famous aliens. Essentially three 
games in one, Alien vs. Predator’s 
Alien, Predator, and Marine levels 
are all unique in story and game- 
play mechanics. 


Why it's better 
than Quake II: David Stalker, 
producer. Fox Interactive: “The 
player is immersed in a first-person 
world full of Aliens and Predators. 
You can choose between three 
species, each with unique 
weapons, abilities, and maneuver- 
ing characteristics. Aliens can 
maneuver in all directions on all 
surfaces, including climbing on 
walls and ceilings, then lunging 
down from above to attack their 
prey. Weapons damage the envi- 
ronment; for example, flame throw- 
ers and volumetric explosions.” 



< 

cr 

UJ 

1- 

(X 

u 


Why it's not: The graphics 
aren’t up to par, and we’ve 
already seen this game on the 
Jaguar. Besides, the game is 
waaaay late. 


9 

Pure action: The three classes really 
don’t like each other. Let the battle ensue. 

6 

Originality: It’s been done before, but 
we love the Alien and Predator characters. 

6 

Story: In the research station 
Pandora, each of the three races has its 
own agenda. 


Graphics: Early looks at the levels 
seemed like generic space station material. 

«’ 

Multiplayer: The multiplayer game 
offers real possibilities with the three dis- 
tinct character sets. Its proprietary engine 
will have to live up to the challenge. 


BUZZ: It has the name, but gamers are 
more savvy than to fall only for that. Sub- 
stance is needed. 

41 

Score 
















[\ 














. - 

- 

; - 

1 


8 

1 

1 r 





ON VENUS, MERCURY, AND A HOST OF 


moons, BROTHER is locked 


WITH BROTHER IN 


DESPERATE BATTLE 


WWW.STARSIEGE.COM Dynam/x- 

A COMPANY 


1998 Sierra On-Line. Inc. All rights reserved. ® and TM designate trademarks of, or licensed to Sierra On-Line, Inc. 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 




ATI XPERT@Play 98 8MB - The new breed of speed 



— mimimmmvmmmmimnmmm — . 3 

All XPERT@PLAY 98 609 

DIAMOND STEALTH II S220 396 

CREATIVE LABS GRAPHICS BLASTER EXXTREME 377 


• ATI’s XPERT 8MB 
graphics boards are the 
only way to experience 
incredible gaming in 
Design^ Windows 98 and 

: Windows 95. 

Microsoft 

Windows' 98 • Get 8MB of power, the best 

3D, DVD picture quality video and TV-Out 
starting from just $98' (ask your favorite 
retailer for more details). 

• Save even more money with ATI’s cool 
Windows 98 rebates. 2 


• ATI’s XPERT graphics boards are available in PCI 
or full AGP 2X versions. AGP 2X includes free 
Software DVD offer. 


• Get TV on your PC with ATI-TV. 

• Check out www.atitech.com for more details 
on ATI’s Windows 98 products and rebates. 


©Copyright 1998, ATI Technologies Inc. ATI, XPERT@Play 98, XPERT 98, ATI-TV, and RAGE PRO TURBO are trademarks 
and/or registered trademarks of ATI Technologies Inc. All other company and/or product names are trademarks and/or 
registered trademarks of their respective manufacturers. Features, performance, and specifications may vary by 
operating environment and are subject to change without notice. Products may not be exactly as shown. 'Suggested 
retail price. 'Check store for further details on exact rebate amount ’Tested on Pentium II MMX-300MHz/64MB/5l2 
cache/Windows 95-OSR 2.1/Test Mode: 640x480x 1 6bppp@75Hz.Tested using Driver Version:ATI XPERT@Play 98 8MB 
SGRAM AGP version 5.20 / Diamond Stealth II S220 4 MB SGRAM PCI 4. 10.01.01 01 / Creative Labs Graphics Blaster 
Exxtreme 8MB SGRAM PCI 4.03.00.2 1 04-3.02 1 9. ■* Mail-in rebate for XPERT@Play 98. See store for details. All products 
used in this test are shipping versions available to the public.Tests performed w/o independent verification by ZD and 
ZD makes no representations or warranties as to results. *Not valid for all ATI products. Please refer to 
www.atitech.com for further information on ATI's Software DVD offer. $ 1 0 shipping and handling charge may be 
applicable. Offer subject to change and/or cancellation at any time without any notice. 


Now You See It. 

www.atitech.com/pcacc 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 





1 

GREATES 


/ 1 

GUY G 

AMES 


D t takes a special game to classify as a 
real “guy” game, and it must possess 
a pronounced glory all its own to be 
considered one of the 25 best. The for- 
mula is far from an exact science, but 


Send your kid brother to get some smokes, 
lower the lights, get drunk on testosterone, 
and prepare to review the 25 games — in 
order of guy-ness — that make you proud to 
be a man. 



Duke Nukem (series) 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Drinking, sex, violence, and exple- 
tive-loaded one-liners 
DEFINING MOMENT 
After mowing down alien scum, 

Duke heads into a strip dub (as any 
self-respecting manly man would), 
pulls out a dollar, and the stripper 
gets nekkid — ’nuff said 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
A bachelor party with a load of guns 
and some alien intruders 
BOTTOM LINE 


extreme violence, gratuitous sex, beer, or 
sports are critical. Of course, any game that 
can successfully combine all these elements 
into one experience is an instant classic. 


Special note to our mothers: We aren’t sexist 
pigs who promote violent computer games, we 
just play them in this magazine. Thank you. 


Hail to the king baby! No game can 
even come dose to this near-flawless 
combination of all things we cherish 

WHAT WE WOULD I A I 

HAVE SCORED IT | * U j 



It doesn’t get more 
manly than Duke Nukem. 



Note the explosion and 
blood — these are good. 



Quake 

(I and II) 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Exploding bodies, showers of 
blood, huge guns, mass destruc- 
tion, and lewd taunts 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Firing a BFG into your friend’s face 
and watching his body parts fly all 
over the room 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 

Vietnam 

BOTTOM LINE 

Quake is the ultimate bully. 

The pure satisfaction of driving 
a rail slug through a row of unsus- 
pecting crouchers can't be touched 

WHAT WE WOULD I Q 

HAVE SCORED IT | 7 



Carmageddon 

MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Road kill, horrified screams of 
anguish, and death around (and on) 
every corner 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Driving through a football stadium 
collecting carcasses on your fender 
— which scores you more points! 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
A typical commute to work on the 
L.A. Freeway 
BOTTOM LINE 

The interactive sequel to the driver’s 
ed movie Red Asphalt, Carmaged- 
don lets you drive the way you’ve 
always wanted 

WHAT WE WOULD I o I 

HAVE SCORED IT [ O 



Tomb Raider 

(I and II) 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Two words — err — two things — 
hell, you know what we mean 
DEFINING MOM ENT(S) 
Perverted camera manipulation to get 
the best angle, and pushing blocks 
just to hear Lara’s erotic grunts 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
The laws of physics prohibit a real- 
life Lara, but Elizabeth Hurley is 
close enough 
BOTTOM LINE 
Lara, violence, Nude Raider web- 
sites, the return of Daisy Dukes, 
and plenty of two-fisted gunplay 

WHAT WE WOULD I Q I 

HAVE SCORED IT | 7 



Interstate 76 

MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Muscle cars, afros (Dan assures us 
this is manly), plenty of gore, and 
the occasional cuss word 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Running a copper off the road 
in your Pinto clone, then launching 
laser-guided missiles at the 
driver’s forehead 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
An episode of “Starsky & Hutch” 
on acid 

BOTTOM LINE 

Muscle cars, an 8-track player, and 
a sexy sister = a ZZ Top video wait- 
ing to happen 

WHAT WE WOULD I Q 

HAVE SCORED IT j 7 


Doom (scries) 

MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Introduced the deathmatch, the 
most manly of all gaming pursuits 
DEFINING MOM ENT(S) 

The first time you got your hands 
on the BFG, then later when you 
figured out what the acronym 
stands for 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 

The “jerry Springer” show — 
with guns 
BOTTOM LINE 
A solitary (albeit, psychopathic, 
hard-assed, and well-armed) Marine 
vs. the entire demonic population. It 
doesn’t get much better than this 

WHAT WE WOULD * n 

HAVE SCORED IT 1 ° 



Feminist hero or mistress of exploitation? We don’t care what 
you call her just as long as she keeps getting out her guns. 


5 

o 

73 

IS) 

a> 

X5 

3 

cr 

a> 


vo 

vo 

oo 



Testosterone deficiencies affect an estimated 1 million men a year 




Symptoms of testosterone deficiency: decreased libido, breasts, need for cuddling .. 


00 

On 

On 


<U 

jQ 

E 

(D 

•*—> 

CL 

<u 

co 

Q£ 

0 

1 




Wolfenstein 3D 


Myth 


Jedi Knight 


NHL '98 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Slaughtering Nazis — what else do 
you need? 

DEFINING MOMENT(S) 

The first time you fire the chain gun 
and the glorious (almost demonic) 
laughter that always follows. These 
events truly changed our lives 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 

The Dirty Dozen to the tenth power 

BOTTOM LINE 

The original 3D shooter that made it 
possible for all the wondrous incar- 
nations that followed. Also opened 
the door for blood in games, and we 
all know how good that is 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Blood, blood, and even more blood 
— and let us not forget bloodstains 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Watching a severed head quietly roll 
down a blood-drenched hill into a val- 
ley strewn with random body parts 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Braveheart 
BOTTOM LINE 
Realtime strategy done right: fast 
pace, epic battles, and a complete 
disregard for all forms of life. Intro- 
duced first true 3D terrain and 
physics, which gives us more stuff 
to blow the hell up 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

It’s Star Wars, and you get to be the 
bad guy 

DEFINING MOMENT 

Choosing between the dark and the 
light side of the Force (If you chose 
the light side, then you might prefer 
our list of games for girly men) 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Choosing between the hot sleaze or 
the girl next door — there’s no real 
choice, is there? 

BOTTOM LINE 

Absorbing Star Wars universe, light 
sabers, and the complete use of 
Force powers 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Body checks, toothless goons — 
hell, what isn’t manly about hockey? 

DEFINING MOMENT 

Knocking a pretty-boy center 
through the glass and into the lap 
of his actress wife 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Uh, hockey 
BOTTOM LINE 

Sports are the one thing (besides a 
few anatomical differences) that 
separates men from women, and 
NHL '98 is quite definitely the best 
sports game around. It’s also the 
best PC fighting game out there 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


8 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 



“We’ve got no teeth! We’ve got no teeth!” Luckily teeth 
aren’t a requirement for hockey, guy games, or beer. 



Leisure Suit Larry 

(series) 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Sex, nudity, sex, nudity, ad infinitum 
DEFINING MOMENT(S) 

The desperate, almost painful, 
ongoing pursuit of any and all 
women in the game, and innocently 
asking your mother the answers to 
the adult test questions 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Junior high (Oh hell, who are we 
kidding — our whole damn lives!) 
BOTTOM LINE 
Bad interface and even worse dia- 
logue ... still, getting laid (even in a 
game) is always cool 

WHAT WE WOULD I /■ I 

HAVE SCORED IT [ O | 



Mech Warrior 2 


Full Throttle 


Syndicate Series 



Tapper 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Beer, bartenders, and lovely pixe- 
lated barmaids 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Tapper drinking games — where 
the real world and gaming collided 
for one major hangover 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Last weekend (Oh hell, who are we 
kidding — our whole damn lives!) 
BOTTOM LINE 

You alone are responsible for sav- 
ing precious beer from being spilled 
onto the grimy floor of a pixelated 
tavern, a responsibility that should- 
n’t be taken lightly 

WHAT WE WOULD I 4 I 

HAVE SCORED IT | 1 



StarCraft 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Giant robots beating the tar out of 
other giant robots, and a wide array 
of massively destructive weapons 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Actually learning how to use 12 but- 
tons simultaneously 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots 
BOTTOM LINE 
If you actually took the time to 
understand the controls, much 
manly action ensued (We’ll just 
have to take Ed’s word for it since 
the rest of us have but 10 fingers 
and were unwilling to grow more) 

WHAT WE WOULD I Q 

HAVE SCORED IT | 7 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Motorcycles, mechanics, heavy 
metal music, big explosions, and 
sweaty overweight heroes 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Placing the hand icon on a woman’s 
private parts (like you didn’t try it!), 
and Ben saying, “Man, we’re both 
gonna get in trouble” 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Any bar with “Eagle” in its name 
BOTTOM LINE 
One of the only manly graphic 
adventures ever made, but the 
voice of Mark Hamill nearly cost this 
a place in the top 25 

WHAT WE WOULD Q I 

HAVE SCORED IT ~ 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Cool gadgets, cyborgs, and flame- 
throwers with no direct involvement 
yourself. Instead you rest comfortably 
back at headquarters plotting the 
demise of other innocents 
DEFINING MOMENT 
It’s all about persuading masses of 
innocents to follow you around so 
you can use them as human shields 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
CIA or David Koresh 
BOTTOM LINE 
Men love power, and what’s more 
powerful than controlling the minds 
and lives of others? 

WHAT WE WOULD Q I 

HAVE SCORED IT O 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Alien hordes, big-ass spaceships, 
and three warring races 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Realizing that you’re surrounded by 
more Zergs than you have bullets 
for, and there is nothing you can do 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Cinco De Mayo in Harlem during a 
Michael Bolton concert (think 
about it ...) 

BOTTOM LINE 
Dan stays up all night playing, and 
he told us it was a guy game. We 
still think he’s a miserable loser who 
has nothing better to do at night 

WHAT WE WOULD I Q 

HAVE SCORED IT | ~ 




G-Police 


Grand Theft Auto 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Souped-up helicopters, legalized 
police brutality, and the freedom to 
blow up pesky civilian vehicles 
DEFINING MOMENT 
The first time you quit following 
criminals and focus solely on caus- 
ing mass property damage 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
LAPD 

BOTTOM LINE 

The right side of the law can be fun 
too, as long as you’re armed with a 
futuristic helicopter and a couple 
tooopd bombs. No one speeds in 
our town! 

WHAT WE WOULD I -j 

HAVE SCORED IT [ / 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Car jackings, foul language, and 
greedy mob bosses 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Car jacking a school bus, ramming it 
through a police barricade, then 
hopping out and torching the 
fleeing survivors 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Cosa Nostra, The Mob, The Family, 
Mafia, Good Fellas, Our Thing, 

Made Men, Crime Syndicate 
BOTTOM LINE 
Finally a game where you are the 
villain and all those do-gooders can 
go straight to hell! 

WHAT WE WOULD I Q I 

HAVE SCORED IT \ O 



Command & 
Conquer (series) 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 

World domination, armored vehi- 
cles, and vicious air strikes 
DEFINING MOMENT 
The collective squirt of blood when 
you run a mammoth tank over a 
squadron of infantry 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
The Middle East 


BOTTOM LINE 

Using men as pawns in your manly 
battle for world dominance is cruel 
— and the very reason manly men 
exist (or at least one of the reasons 
that we’re allowed to print) 


WHAT WE WOULD I Q 
HAVE SCORED IT | ~ 




Moto Racer GP 


Deer Hunter 


Custer's Revenge 


Outlaws 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 


MANLY INGREDIENTS 


Motorcycles, dirt tracks, oil (the 
greasy manly kind, not the 
sissy lotion kind) and bone- 
jarring accidents 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Losing your ride at 150 mph with 
only a telephone pole to stop you 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Evel Knievel 
BOTTOM LINE 
The only way we wimps will ever 
get on a motorcycle is in this game. 
That alone makes it a guy game — 
just so we don’t have to admit what 
sad, girly men we really are 


High-caliber weapons, flannel, and 
shooting cuddly (and poor defense- 
less) animals 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Spotting the trophy buck after 
hours of waiting (and drinking), and 
then finally getting a shot when 
you’re too damn drunk to hit it 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
A weekend in Canada, a case of 
Moosehead, and your Uncle Bud 
BOTTOM LINE 
The box has a warning that says 
“Rewards injuring nonthreatening 
creatures” — ’nuff said 


Even we manly men have to draw a 
line somewhere, and this game is 
just offensive 

DEFINING MOMENT 

When Custer gets an arrow in 
the — uhh — er ... 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 

The White House intern program 

BOTTOM LINE 

We could get in real trouble for this 
one, but if you’ve downloaded that 
Atari 2600 emulator then there 
really isn’t much else to play any- 
way (Actually this game sucks, but 
isn’t it cool that we remember it?) 


Classic spaghetti Western storyline, 
lots of shooting, and the occasional 
cigar (the absolute manliest of all 
smoking products) 

DEFINING MOMENT 
Fighting your way to the front of a 
moving train packed with countless 
members of the Bad and the Ugly 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
Outlaw Josey Wales 
BOTTOM LINE 
Westerns are inherently cool, but 
the lack of brothels nearly cost this 
game a slot in our top 25. What 
were they thinking? 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


-3 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


8 



Dungeon Keeper 

MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Evil plots, greed, and the ability to 
pimp-slap disobedient monsters 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Hearing the satisfied squeals of 
Dark Mistresses as you lock them 
up and proceed to perform obscene 
acts of torture 

REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 

An evening with Marv Albert 

BOTTOM LINE 

Your turn to be the bad guy. 

Destroy all other Keepers, and then 
laugh uncontrollably at the pathetic 
attempts made by the Lord of the 
Land to thwart your domination 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


Diablo 

MANLY INGREDIENTS 

Scantily clad lady demons, swords, 
Satan, and blood 
DEFINING MOMENT 
Under the guise of cooperative play, 
you quickly stab your partner in the 
back for a few measly gold pieces 
REAL-LIFE EQUIVALENT 
“Baywatch Nights” (David Hassel- 
hoff as Satan, scantily clad lady 
demons, etc.) 

BOTTOM LINE 

Guys love Satan and we’re no differ- 
ent, but come on, cooperative play? 
Since when were guys supposed to 
play nicely together? 


1 

GAMES FOR GIRLS Mtf 

\ 


WHAT WE WOULD 
HAVE SCORED IT 


8 


CREATURES 

Nurturing cute furry, doe-eyed creatures 
is supposed to be fun? Give me a rail 
gun and I’ll do some damn nurturing! 
ULTIMA ONLINE 
Arguably one of the most innovative 
games of our time — that is, if you’re a 
huge geek who needs the company of 
virtual friends to enrich your sad exis- 
tence. Final analysis: Swords good, con- 
versation bad 
THEME HOSPITAL 
Healing? It’s not bad enough that you 
have to be bored with financial details, 
but the end result is healing, and that 
goes against everything we stand for 
FLIGHT UNLIMITED II 
Maybe our game is broken, but we can’t 
seem to find the button that releases the 


bombs or even fires the guns. What a 
waste of good polygons 
RIANA ROUGE 
This had all the makings of a top 25 
guy game. Playboy centerfold Gillian 
Bonner, lots of skin, and promised 
action. Reality: It’s a game about feel- 
ings. Don’t we get enough of this crap 
at home? 

MYST 

Somebody castrate me, then maybe 
I’ll play this bore-fest they tike to call a 
game. Anyone who bought this game 
or its equally unlikable sequel Riven 
need a handful of Viagra, Pamela 
Anderson posters, some lotion, and 
time alone to, uh, think 
SCRABBLE 

Wee dont nead no stinckin speling! 

: : 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 





won.net 


Unreal™ ©1998 Epic Megagames. Inc. All Rights Reserved. Created by Epic Megagames. Inc. in collaboration with Digital Extremes. Published and distributed by GT Interactive Software Corp. GT™ is a trademark and GT® is a registered trademark of GT Interactive Software Corp. 
Microsoft® and Windows® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. MMX™ and the MMX Logo™ are trademarks of Intel Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies. 


?12ai &B££' 


WINDOWS 95 

CD-ROM ? s 


Coming Soon 
to Macintosh 

MacSoft 


The future of gaming. PC Gamer m a completely original 3D engine S3 ruthless R.l. 0 hyper-realistic environmental effects 


UNREAL 


Rctual gameplay screen shots 


The world may never be the same after Unreal Is released, bool 


□ revolutionary easy-to-use level editor 


Visit unreal.gtqames.com for shareware 





H portah M welcome to the Bermuda Triangle of the Galaxy 0 “The best looking game of all tone.” Next Generation 





H optimized for MMX and leading 3D accelerators M enter an endleu multiplayer universe op uter-created. hot-linked leveh 



Digital Extremes www.unreal.com 



available at your local retail store 

Order direct at store.gtinteractive.com 
or call 1-800-610-GTIS. 


(^tzUn\ 

Softw 


GT Interactive 
Software 


www.ulinloiactivo.coni 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 




e GREAT *4 95 CD-ROM DEAL 




Deer Hunter: Inoculan Antivirus Red Barron li 

Interactive Hunting Home/Personal 5141205 Flight Sim. 5139407 

Experience Pent133,16mb,J 

Sports 5147103 

Pentium, 16mb 


Jumpstart 
Kindergarten '98 


Battle Zone 


Children’s Education 5135108 Pent 1 20, 1 6mb 
WC, 16mb . _ _ 


CHOOSE ANY CD-ROMs FOR 


WinDelete Deluxe 

^Utilities 

5154901 

Net Accelerator Deluxe 

Home/Personal, WC 

5143201 

iJF-22 Persian Gulf 
-"Version 5.0 

Flight Sim., Pentl 33. 16mb 

5151303 

Visual Home 

Home/Personal, WC, Pentium, 16mb 

5148408 

3D Landscape 

Home/Personal, WC, 16mb 

5148200 

Duke Nukem 3D: 
Atomic Edition 

Arcade Style, DOS 

5105804 


WarCraft Battle Chest 


PLUS 1 MORE AT 
GREAT SAVINGS! 

(See details below.) 


ianzer'44 5150909 

■trategy Game, Pent133, 16mb 

Mechwarrior 2: 

The Titanium Trilogy 5142203 

Arcade Style, Pent) 00, 16mb 

's Interactive 
Bible: NIV 5151204 

Bible, VVC 

Compton's Interactive 
Encyclopedia '98 5126800 

General Ref., WC, Pentium 

Sierra Pro Pilot 5141007 

Flight S!m.,Pent90, _16mb 


Seven Kingdoms 


Math Journey For 
Grades 1-3 

Children’s Education, WC 

Math For The Real World 

Children’s Education, WC 

3D Ultra Pinball: 


Creep Night 

Arcade Style, WC 

3D Ultra Pinball: 

The Lost Continent 

Arcade Style, WC, 12mb 

I fter Dark: Totally Twisted 

Home/Personal, WC 

Interstate '76 Arsenal 

Arcade Style, Pent90, 16mb 
mam 


5142302 

5138904 

5088208 

5137302 


5149000 

5142609 


How To Select CD-ROMs For Your System. 

All selections are available for PC only. Unless other- 
system requirements ere 


Windows '95 operating system, a 486/66 processor 
with 8 MB RAM, SVGA display, sound card, 200 MB hard 
drive, 4X CD-ROM drive, mouse, and keyboard. DOS 
titles will run in Windows ’95 DOS mode. Where indicat- 
ed, J=Joystick, P=Printer, Pent=Pentium, and 
WC=Windows ’95 Compatible selection. 


Roadtrips Door To Door 
1998 Edition 

Travel, 16mb 

5134507 

Balls Of Steel 

Arcade, Pentium, 16mb 

5143805 

Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee 

5130505 

Outpost 2: Divided Destiny 5129101 

Strategy Game, Pentium, 16mb 

Spell it Deluxe 

Children's Education, WC 

5125901 

Links LS 1998 Edition 

Sports, Pent90, 16mb 

5121702 

Leisure Suit Larry 
Collection 

Adventure, DOS 

5116009 

Leisure Suit Larry: 
Love For Sail 

Adventure, DOS, 12mb 

5104302 

Lands Of Lore: 
Guardians Of Destiny 

Adventure, DOS, Pentium, 16mb 

5129309 

Lords Of Magic 

Strategy Game, Pentl 00, 16mb 

5139704 


Oregon Trail 3rd Edition 

Children’s Education, Pent90, 16mb 

5139001 

Freddi Fish 3: The Case Of 
"The Stolen Conch Shell 

Children’s Education, WC 

5149406 

Broken Sword 

Adventure, Pentium, 16mb 

5137203 

Zork Grand Inquisitor 

Adventure, Pent90, 16mb 

5137104 

NASCAR Racing 2 

Driving Sim., DOS, 16mb 

5104609 

Kindergarten Blaster 

Children's Education, WC 

5128400 

Phantasmagoria: 
A Puzzle OfFlesh 

Adventure, Pentium, 12mb 

5102801 

Phantasmagoria 

Video Interact. Game, DOS 

5004502 

Mechwarrior 2 
Mercenaries 

Arcade Style, DOS, Pentium 16mb, J 

5091905 

Soda Off-Road Racing 

Driving Sim., Pent90, 16mb 

5134903 

Command 81 Conquer 
Strategy Game, DOS 

Command 8 r Conquer: 
Red Alert 

Strategy Game, DOS, Pentium 

5050208 

5105101 

Birthright 

Role Playing, DOS, Pent90, 16mb 

5134804 

Reader Rabbit's 
Kindergarten 

Children's Education, WC 

5140009 

Print Artist Platinum 

Home/Personal, P 

5139605 


5144407 Semper Fi The 

Tradition Continues 


5150800 


Backyard Baseball 

Sports, WC, Pentium, 16mb 

5135306 

Blade Runner 

Adventure, Pent90, 16mb 

5134309 

Total Annihilation 

Strategy Game, Pentl 00, 16mb 

5130406 

Dark Reign 

Strategy Game, Pent90, 16mb 

5129200 

You Don't Know 
Jack XXXL: Huge 

Game Show Trivia, WC, 16mb 

5126909 

Aces Collection Series 

Flight Sim., DOS, 16mb 

5132600 

Blood 

Arcade Style, DOS, Pentium, 16mb, J 

5115100 

Logic Quest 

Children’s Education, WC, Pentium 

5110200 

Quake 

Arcade Style, DOS, Pentium, 16mb 

5097902 

The 11th Hour 

Video Interact. Game, DOS 

5054309 

The 7th Guest 

Video Interact. Game. Pentium, 16mb 

5004700 

Heavy Gear 

Arcade Style, Pentl 00, 16mb 

5132709 

Jr. High School Success 

Children? Education, WC 

5128509 

Air Warrior III 

Flight Sim., Pentl 33, 24mb,J 

5140801 

Police Quest Collection 

5115902 

Timelapse (•] 1 1 J u 1 : t 


I fter Dark Deluxe 

Home/Personal 


5148705 Professional Webresume 

Home/Personal, WC 


5146105 


Adventure, WC 


CD-ROM DIRECT 


A whole new way to get the most exciting CD-ROMs - 

games, reference, edutainment and more - all at great prices! Just write in the 
selection numbers of the 2 CD-ROMs you want for $4.95 each, plus shipping and 
handling. In exchange, you agree to buy 4 more CD-ROMs in the next 2 years, at 
our regular prices (currently as low as $29.95, plus shipping and handling) - and 
you may cancel membership at any time after doing so. What’s more, you can get 
one more CD-ROM right now for the low price of $1 9.95 and have less to buy later 
(see complete details in coupon). 

Free CD-ROM magazine sent approximately every 4-6 weeks (up to 13 
times a year) reviewing our Featured Selection - plus scores of alternate choices, 
including many lower priced CD-ROMs. And you may also receive Special Selection 
mailings up to four times a year. (That’s up to 1 7 buying opportunities a year!) 

Buy only what you want! If you want the Featured Selection, do nothing - 
it will be sent automatically. If you’d prefer an alternative selection, or none at all, just 
mail the response card always provided by the date specified. You’ll always have 
1 0 days to decide; if not, you may return the selection at our expense. 
Money-Saving Bonus Plan. If you continue your membership after 
fulfilling your obligation, you’ll be eligible for our generous bonus plan. It enables you 
to enjoy great savings on the CD-ROMs you want - for as long as you decide to 
remain a member! 

10-Day Risk-Free Trial. Well send details of how Columbia House CD-ROM 
Direct works along with your introductory package. If you're not satisfied, return 
everything within 1 0 days at our expense for a full refund and no further obligation. 
Act now, membership in CD-ROM Direct may be limited. 

For faster service, use your credit card and call us toll-free 24 hours a day. 

1-800-792-1 000 x d c p 5 

Check us out online! For more titles.. .to order...or for more information. 

http://www.columbiahouse.com/cdrom 


Columbia House CD-ROM Direct Bloomington, IN 47404-149^’ 
Yes, please enroll me under the terms outlined in this advertisement. As a member, I need buy just 
4 more CD-ROMs at your regular prices within the next 2 years. 


Important! All selections are available for PC only. 


Send me these 2 CD-ROMs for just $4.95 each 
plus $1.99 each shipping/handling (total $13.88). 


Write in the selection #’s below 


# 


Buy your first selection now and have less to buy later! 

□ Also send my first selection for $19.95 plus $1 .99 shipping/handling which I’m adding to my $13.88 
payment (total $35.82). I then need to buy only 3 more (instead of 4) in 2 years, f# 


Please check how paying: □ My check is enclosed. (MK4/MK8) 

Charge my introductory CD-ROMs and future CD-ROM Direct purchases to: (MK5/MK9) 

□ MasterCard EH Diners Club EH AMEX EH VISA EH Discover 

Account Number Exp. Date Signature 

My main CD-ROM interest is: (check one) (Note: You are always free to choose from any category.) 

EH Entertainment C] Education EH Edutainment EH Productivity 

(includes children’s titles) 


Name_ 


Phone (_ 


-)- 


Address_ 
City 


Apt._ 


. State_ 


Zip_ 


Note: Columbia House reserves the right to request additional information, to limit membership or reject any 
application, or to cancel any membership. Offer limited to residents of the contiguous United States. Residents of 
Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. territories, APO and FPO addresses please write for separate offer. 

Applicable tax added to all orders. C-0998-PCA ©1 998 The Columbia House Company 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 









z 


#1SS 






Souping Up 


Your Rig 



CREATIVE LABS 

3D BLASTER VOODOO 2 (12MB) $299 


DIAMOND MONSTER 3D II (i2MB)->- $299 


DIAMOND MONSTER 3D II (8MB) -fr $249 


CANOPUS PURE 3D II (12MB) 

includes cooling fan and 
TV-out capability 


ORCHID RIGHTEOUS 3D II (12MB) S299 


SCALABILITY 


CHEAP 


YOUR CHOICES 


ID 


AMAZING PERFORMANCE 

Voodoo 2 should remain the abso- 
lute fastest 3D technology (espe- 
cially in SLI mode) on the market 
until early 1999. 

GOOD DEVELOPER SUPPORT 

3Dfx has spent millions of dollars 
on marketing and developer sup- 
port to make Glide, its proprietary 
API, number one in developers’ 
minds. Because of Glide’s popular- 
ity, many 3D games are pro- 
grammed to take specific advan- 
tage of 3Dfx’s hardware. 


By connecting two Voodoo 2 cards 
together (in SLI mode), you’ll find 
that your games wilt run almost 
fast enough to make you forget 


fhus •••?• 

AMAZING PERFORMANCE 

This chip should give a single 
Voodoo 2 card a run for its money. 


INTEGRATED SOLUTION 

PVRSG offers both 2D and 3D accel- 
eration, so it’s the only card you’ll 
need for both games and that other 
stuff you use to justify a $2,000 
computer purchase. 


FULLY FEATURED 

PVRSG has four features that no 
other card in 1998 will have: full 
scene anti-aliasing, anisotropic 
texture filtering, VC texture com- 
pression (8:1), and hardware 
bump mapping. What does all that 
stuff mean, and how does it affect 
your games? Check out our handy 
jargonator for full definitions of 
these and other important tech- 
nology terms. 


You’ll get all of these features at 
prices starting under $ioo. 

GOOD POTENTIAL SUPPORT 

Sega’s new console Dreamcast 
makes use of the same 3D core as 
the PC versions of PVRSG. That 
means the best of the console’s 
games will be ported to PC and take 
full advantage of PowerVR’s hard- 
ware. While this will take a while, 
developers are already beginning to 
create games for this technology. 

GOOD IMAGE QUALITY 


EBMS ? 

WEAK DEVELOPER SUPPORT 

Support for PowerVR’s propri- 
etary API PowerSGLhas not 
caught on in the development 
community as well as Direct3D 
and 3Dfx’s Glide, which means 
that fewer games are pro- 
grammed to take full advantage 
of PowerVR hardware. 


DN THE HORIZON > 

PowerVR is preparing to go head 
to head with 3Dfx for the high- 
end market with its own 3D-only 
part that is secretly referred to as 
PCX3. The chipset should cost 
about $200 and use a parallel con- 
figuration of the PVRSG chipset. 
Look for it to show up early in 
fourth quarter ’98. ^ 


OH S -> 

EXPENSIVE 

Voodoo 2 cards currently start at 
about $230. SLI solutions (using 
two boards or special two-in-one 
boards) cost upwards of $500. 


3D ONLY 

The Voodoo 2 chipset supports 
only 3D acceleration, forcing you 
to use another video card to han- 
dle your regular word processing 
and Windows needs. Generally 
computers have enough ports so 
that this is not a problem, but for 
some, having a single 2D/3D 
graphics card will allow them room 
for other hardware additions. 


NO TRUE AGP SUPPORT 

While there are accelerated graph- 
ics port (AGP) boards that use 
Voodoo 2 chips, they really don’t 
allow use of system RAM for tex- 
tures, which means that they don’t 
take full advantage of the benefits 
of AGP. 


VERY CPU DEPENDENT 

Unless you have at least a 
Pentium II 166, you shouldn’t 
consider a Voodoo 2 card. 


ON THE HORIZON ■ 

3Dfx is preparing the Voodoo Ban- 
shee, its first 2D/3D solution for 
release late in third quarter ’98. 
From the specifications we’ve seen 
so far, its 2D performance should 
be excellent, and the company 
claims the chipset’s 3D perfor- 
mance will be on par or even 
slightly faster than a single 
Voodoo 2. Prices for boards using 
this technology are expected to be 
around $150. ^ 


that your wallet has been 
drained by hardware purchases. 


FULL FEATURED 

Voodoo 2 supports nearly every 
special feature under the sun: 
multitexturing, specular highlight- 
ing, 16-bit z-buffering, bilinear and 
trilinear texture filtering, quantum 
squirrel buffering, bump mapping 
in software, etc. 


GOOD IMAGE QUALITY 


YOUR CHOICES 


0 3D acceleration is 
all the rage and 
you’re in the market 
for a sexy new board 
to drive your Unreal 
and Quake framerates high 
enough to melt your eyes from all 
the gaming goodness. Currently 
there’s no single board or technol- 
ogy that’s right for everyone, so 
PC ACCELERATOR is here to assist 
you in possibly the most important 
gaming decision you ever make. 

Even more important than the 
company that manufactures the 
board is the chipset used to 
power it. These chipsets are what 
determine the performance, fea- 
tures, and developer support for 
your 3D accelerator. When shop- 
ping for a board, the first thing to 
read on the box is what technol- 
ogy the card uses. Here’s a handy 
guide to the chips gamers need to 
be concerned about (if it’s not 
here, you don’t need to know 
about it). 


-o 

n 


I 

a? 

in 

a> 

TD 

r-t" 

ro 

3 

a - 

a> 


vo 

vo 

00 


Voodoo was formed from a mixture of French Catholicism and African Yoruba 









Errant Bjork smuggling issues delayed Unreal for more than eight months 



00 

On 

ON 

T-H 


Q_ 

0) 

CO 

O 


Q. 



JARGQNATQR 

The names used for 3D tech- 
nology are often as inventive 
as the games that use them. 
Below are a few of the more 
confusing terms: 

2D/3D ACCELERATION 

Type of technology that offers support 
for general video processes (like run- 
ning Windows, word processing, and 
graphics apps) as well as handling 
the advanced computations required 
for 3D graphics. 

ANISOTROPIC FILTERING 

Type of texture filtering that models 
texels (the pixels that comprise a tex- 
ture map) as ellipses instead of the 
traditional form of circles. This process 
results in less “blurring” than bilinear 
or trilinear texture filtering, leaving 
textures crisp even in distances. 

BILINEAR FILTERING 

Filtering process that smoothes poly- 
gons so they don’t look chunky 
or blocky. 

BUMP MAPPING 

Process by which a surface appears to 
take on a more 3D aspect (for exam- 
ple, looking bumpy). This technique is 
very effective and is said to be used 
for the character’s face model in the 
new Edward James Olmos 3D shooter. 

ERRANT BJORK SMUGGLING 

Occasionally Icelandic pixies pop up 
in true 3D environments. The best bet 
is to smuggle them into a 2D program 
like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. 

FULL SCENE ANTI-ALIASING 

Process by which all jagged lines from 
surfaces are interpolated and 
smoothed. The result is a more natu- 
ral-looking image, so your NHL 98 
hockey players look more like the 
ugly Canadian brutes they represent. 

MULTITEXTURING 

Applying multiple textures on a single 
surface. For example, in Quake II, 
multitexturing is used to apply a tex- 
ture to a surface and then apply a sec- 
ond transparent lighting texture on 
top of that to “fake” the effects of 
realtime lighting. 

QUANTUM SQUIRREL 
BUFFERING 

Purely hardware rendering technique 
that buffers most manufacturers’ chip- 
munk textures in full 4D. p. 42 



MATROX 


YOUR CHOICES 


N MIDI A 


RIUA 


IL_ «_«£_«• •, 


INTEGRATED SOLUTION 

The G200 offers both 2D and 3D 
acceleration. Matrox has almost 
always provided the fastest 2D 
cards on the market and the 
G200 raises the bar once again. 

GOOD PERFORMANCE 

Direct3D tests we’ve seen put it 
on par with Voodoo 2. OpenGL 
tests remain to be seen. 

DECENT PRICE 

Boards should cost as little as 
$150 in 8MB configurations. 

EXCELLENT IMAGE QUALITY 


CONS -4 


HORRIBLE IMAGE QUALITY 

The Riva’s performance is gained 
at the expense of poor color satu- 
ration, blurred edges, seaming, 
and dithering. 

WEAK PERFORMANCE 

Once the leader in Direct3D perfor- 
mance, nVidia’s lack of new tech- 
nology has forced it to play catch- 
up with other new technologies. 


Developers are talking about 
Nvidia’s next chip, the Riva TNT, 
which will fix image quality issues. 
With performance that’s supposed 
to exceed that of Voodoo 2 in SLI 
mode while still providing excep- 
tional 2D performance, Nvidia thinks 
it has the holy grail of 3D cards. This 
winter, we’ll find out when the first 
TNT boards begin to hit shelves at 
prices just over $200. ^ 


Matrox has a rocky track record; 
the Mystique suffered from very 
poor 3D performance. 

ON THE HORIZON 4 

There is currently no information 
regarding Matrox’s next genera- 
tion of chips. 


PROS -4 

INTEGRATED SOLUTION 

Solid 2D and 3D performance have 
made the Riva series one of the 
most often selected parts by hard- 
ware manufacturers when building 
computers. 


DECENT PRICE 


Riva cards now go for around 
$i50-$200 depending on memory 
configuration and other options. 


early benchmarks show that 
enabling the feature results in no 
drop in framerates. 

S3TC TEXTURE COMPRESSION 

The same texture compression 
scheme Microsoft has licensed for 
DirectX 6.0, S3TC (6:1), is sup- 
ported in hardware by the Savage 
3D. This should be useful for get- 
ting more texture variation if 
developers support the new DX6 
API in their upcoming games. 

GOOD IMAGE QUALITY 


NO MULTITEXTURING 

Multitexturing support is a key 
component of Direct3D in DirectX 
6.0 and is supported in most other 
emerging 3D technologies. 

TOO EXPENSIVE 

S3 has traditionally dominated 
low-cost video solutions. Its first 
viable entry to the 3D world is 
priced quite high (products should 
cost between $i50-$20o). 


ON THE HDB1ZDN 4 

Future incarnations of the Savage 
3D will include support for fea- 


HERCULES 

TERMINATOR BEAST (8MB) •* $199 


YOUR CHOICES 


tures like anisotropic filtering, 
hardware bump mapping, shad- 
ows, full scene anti-aliasing, 
geometry and lighting setup, and 
more. Savage expects to release a 
new chip each year, so you won’t 
see any of these features until the 
third quarter of ’99. ^ 


MATROX MILLENNIUM G200 $149 

Both available at end of summer *99 


A* 


JA i 




PBBS -4 

INTEGRATED SOLUTION 

The Savage 3D offers both 2D and 
3D acceleration with good 2D qual- 
ity, but it’s not up to snuff with the 
potential of the Matrox G200. 


GOOD PERFORMANCE 

Running Direct3D games, the Sav- 
age 3D chipset stays neck and 
neck with Voodoo 2. 


SUPPOSEDLY FREE TRILINEAR FILTERING 

Trilinear filtering should provide 
some hit on the 3D hardware, but 





One of You 


MONSTER M) GRAPHICS 


Advanced Sound for 
Heart-Pounding 30 Gaming 


60 frames per second (fps) 

Glide (Voodoo, Voodoo 2 ), and Direct30 support at 

800 x 600 with 2-buffer 

8MB and 12MB configurations 

FREE games like Heavy Gear,™ TombRaider II,” 

Final Fantasy;" Daikatanai" and a Special 

Edition Star Wars™Game Pack from LucasArts™ 


Looking for the ultimate 3D gaming experience? Pick up today’s 
fastest 3Dfx Voodoo 2 graphics accelerator and a true positional 
3D audio card. With Diamond’s Monster 3D II, you get more 
speed, more action, and more gaming power! And 
Monster Sound MX200, you’re surrounded with 
explosive sound for heart-pounding 3D. Plus, 
they’re Windows 95/98 compatible, so they can 
unlock the latest effects in your PC. And both 
come bundled with hot 3D game titles. 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 


MONSTER SOUND 


Positional 3D Audio With 2 Or 4 Speakers 
Accelerates DirectSound, DirectSound3D, 
and A3D 

64 Voice Hardware Wavetable 
Includes Hot 3D Games Like Incoming;" 
Jedi Knight!" and Outlaws!" 


Enter the Monster Sweepstakes at 
www.diamondmm.com/monster3D2 


Accelerate your world 


Finally, a fair fight 


© 1998 Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Shadow Warrior © 1998 3D Realms Entertainment. Diamond and the Diamond logo are registered trademarks of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. 
Monster 3D is a trademark of Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 









PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




JARGONATOR 

| CONTINUED ... 

PROPRIETARY API 

Application programming interface 
that is written exclusively for a piece 
of hardware. For example, 3Dfx’s 
Glide API essentially allows develop- 
ers to create games that take advan- 
tage of the specific strengths of the 
Voodoo and Voodoo 2 hardware. 

RANDOM VOXEL SMOOTHING 

Searches out any voxels in your 
favorite shooter and flattens them 
into a crepelike pixel. 

RASTERIZATION 

Process by which pixels are drawn on 
the screen. 

RA5TAFARIZATION 

Process by which pixels are made to 
look like Bob Marley. 

SLI CONFIGURATION 

Two Voodoo 2 boards connected 
together for a powerhouse gaming 
setup. Some high-end setups contain 
two Voodoo 2 chipsets in SLI on a 
single board. 

TRIUNEAR MIP MAPPING 

To enhance processing speed, devel- 
opers will use several different detail 
levels for each texture. For instance, 
when you approach a wall in Unreal, 
at the furthermost point the texture 
will be a very low-resolution image. 

As you get closer to the wall the com- 
puter then calls up a higher-resolu- 
tion texture and merges the two (this 
keeps objects from looking pixelated 
up close — remember Doom?). Trilin- 
ear mip mapping is the use of three of 
these textures (a far, medium, and 
near texture) so you will notice a 
smooth transition of a texture as you 
approach from a distance. 

TRUE AGP SUPPORT 

Hardware that takes advantage of 
the accelerated graphics port, 
enabling faster transfer of information 
so games can utilize more textures 
and visual information. AGP support- 
ing games such as G-Police and 
Incoming include more graphic treats 
like animated textures and more 
intense explosions. 

VECTOR QUANTIZATION (VQ) 
TEXTURE COMPRESSION 

Compression program that reduces 
the memory requirements for textures 
by about eight to one. 


I 




RENDITION HU 


Drivers 


THE PERFECT SOLUTION 
FOR SLOWER CPUS 


Combining the technologies of a 
Rendition V2200 and Fujitsu’s 
Pinolite chipset, the Conspiracy 
Project boards will give just about 
any CPU more than decent 3O per- 
formance. The product enables 
gamers with Pentium or Cyrix 
machines to put off making a CPU 
upgrade for another year or two — 
at a price point of just $150. 

First-generation 3D accelerators 
implemented rasterization directly 
in hardware. Second-generation 3D 
technology (Voodoo 2, Rendition 
V2200) added more rendering 
effects, still leaving the geometry 
and lighting to be executed by the 
computer’s main processor. The 
Conspiracy chipset moves these 
functions to a second specialized 
processor, resulting iii significant 3D 
performance improvements without 
the use of faster processors. 

if you have less than a Pentium 
II 233, this board could be your 
best option. 9 


eoNSPiRAcy 


FACTORS THAT AFFECT PERFORMANCE 


0 CPU: Processor speed 
matters more than anything 
when it comes to framerate, 
so don’t expect your 486/66 
to run Unreal smoothly just 
because you bought a 
Voodoo 2 card. 

0 System RAM: All game 
code runs through system 
RAM, so make sure your 
machine has enough before 
you look into 3D accelerator 
cards. The minimum these 
days is 32MB, but like 
everything else on your PC, 
more is better. 

0 Card RAM configuration 
(4MB/8MB/12MB): Simple 
enough, the more RAM the 
better. 

0 Driver version/type: 
Drivers are crucial and some 
are definitely better. For 
instance, the Diamond Mon- 
ster 3D II has the best drivers 
of any Voodoo 2 card, and 
consequently it runs games 
faster than all the rest. 


PCXES PICKS 


THE BIST AT ANY PRICE 5 


Two Diamond Monster 3D II cards in 
SLI configuration may be costly, but 
the performance of the dual Voodoo 
2 boards can't be beat. Better drivers 
are again the reason. 3^ 


BEST BUYS : 


1 At $2^9, the Diamond Monster 
3D II 8MB is the best buy for the 
money if you're looking for dedicated 
3D acceleration. (It tops the other 
Voodoo 2 boards because of its soft 
ware drivers.) 


2 The Matrox Mystique G.vo cur 
rentiy offers the best 2D performance 
on the market for around $150. In 
addition, the card offers Direct 3D 
and OpenGL performance that rivals 
a single Voodoo 2 card (from what 
we have seen in our reference board 
tests) with top-notch image quality. 


3 PowerVR's card offers Unreal 
and Quake II players native support 
and outstanding performance and 
features for under $100. It’s the best 
card for gamers on a tight budget. 




r 


DEMONSTRATION 


1 Tear out this page. 

2 Crumple into ball. 

3 Toss over your shoulder. 

The sound this ad will make when it hits the ground 
behind you is the power of A3D™from Aureal, the 
only audio that works the way your ears do. 

No wonder game makers like Interplay and GT Interactive are featuring 
A3D in their newest titles. Experience it for yourself at www.A3D.com 



BELIEVE YOUR EARS™ 


©1998 Aureal Semiconductor. Inc. A3D and Aureal are trademarks of Aureal Semiconductor Inc. Other trademarks are properties of their respective owners. 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 







Z. ZjhZ 

Creative introduces Sound Blaster Live!™, a revolution 
in digital audio. It is the finest audio product we have 
ever developed. Experience special effects and audio 
performance that rivals Hollywood sound studio quality. This 
powerful PCI-based audio accelerator will let you experience 
unsurpassed acoustical realism in your favorite games. Hear 
sound effects so real you will feel like you’re in the game. 



• Includes the world’s most powerful audio-processing engine, the EMU10K1 

• Enhances audio in games, CD’s, and other audio applications 

• Experience surround audio with built-in support for two to four speakers 


■'1' 1998 Creative Technology Ltd All other brand or product names listed are trademarks or registered trademarks and are property of their respective holders. If you're not on the net. call 1.800.998.1000 for more information. 



PC Audio Has 
Changed Forever 


Combine this with the ability to playback and enhance music CD’s or any other audio source with 
true digital processing, and it may just leave your existing sound system behind. Sound Blaster Live! 


is the first sound card to support Environmental Audio, 
Creative’s revolutionary new audio technology that recreates 
real-world multidimensional audio experiences on your PC. 
Experience Sound Blaster Live! ' — see your local retailer 
or visit us at www.soundblaster.com/sblive/ today. 



Environmental 

m | • TM 

Audio 

by CREATIVE® 


CREATIVE 




WWW. SOU N DB LASTER. CD M 
Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 








DEVELOPER’S TRACK RECORD 




H 


alf-Life is another in a 
long line of the first- 
person shooter 
brigade to miss its ini- 
tial planned ship date. How did 
this happen? I mean, Half-Life uses 
the Quake I engine, which has 
been available for some time now 
— how long does it take to get it 
right? Well, this is where the 30% 
comes in. Valve’s boss on the pro- 
ject is Gabe Newell, and he’s been 
quick to make it clear that 70% of 
the game is Valve original. 

“We have the source code to 
DOS Quake, Win Quake, GLQuake, 
Quake World, and Quake II, and all 
of the various patches and 
updates,” he said. “We choose 
between them for whatever is most 
appropriate for the gameplay or 
functionality we are trying to 
achieve. But the Al, skeletal anima- 
tion, GL and software Tenderers, 

DSP code are ours. At this point 
about 70% of the code is Valve’s.” 


B INFO BOX 

DEVELOPER Valve 
PUBLISHER-) Sierra 
RELEASE DATE -> October ’98 
3D SUPPORT — > 3Dfx, Direct3D, 
OpenGL 

INTEREST GAUGE 



INTERESTED EXCITED AROUSED 


THE HYPE 


The one to watch if you want some 
gameplay substance in your diet of 
straight-up shooters. 


THE HURDLE 


Quake I is now old, and the competition 
is more fierce. 


THE HIT 


If TF2 were part of the shipping box you 
could pretty much bet on a huge score. 
WorldCraft 2.0 could make up for that. 



30% Quake + 70% Valve = 100% compelling 




are beginning to prove that there 
exists a possibility of teleportation. 

You’re going about your busi- 
ness when all hell breaks loose. 
Y’see, monsters have invaded 
Black Mesa Research Labs (from 
the inside). The outside world is 
making sure no one — and that 
means no one — gets out alive. 
It’s a fight for survival, like all the 


other shooters, but unlike all the 
others you’re not alone. Other sci- 
entists are involved; there’s still 
some form of community trying to 
stop whatever’s coming in from 
getting in and also stop it from 
getting out. 

Making all this happen is a level 
scripting device capable of complex 
patterns of movement to create 
fluid, active scenes. “You could 
take an arbitrary animation, say a 
two-hour movie about a scientist 
playing cat-and-mouse with a 
bunch of monsters, and put that in 
the game. But things in scripted 
sequences like this can’t interact 
with the world. We have a set of cri- 
teria that terminate that ^-p. 5 ° 


A beast from a parallel dimension? Or the NSA’s latest security device? 


Weapon balance is a key factor in Half-Life ’ s multiplayer develop- 
ment. Its design is tailored to be unaffected by ping variations. 


So that’s cleared that up. But 
perhaps we’re getting ahead of 
ourselves here. Perhaps you’re 
not familiar with Half-Life. Why 
should you want to be? Well, amid 
a sea of first-person shooters Half- 
Life stands out like a beacon of 
gameplay principles in a choppy 
sea of clones. While all the coming 
shooters have their own story for 
how they’re going to be top dog in 
the gaming kennel, Half-Life ’ s is 
the most compelling. 

It’s about story-telling, and 
action, and plot development, and 
action, and special effects, and 
action, and monsters from another 
dimension, and action. In a genre 
where nobody cares about the sto- 
ryline (“What bad-ass weapons do I 
get to blow monsters up with?” 
being the main focus of most 
gamers), Half-Life presents a differ- 
ent perspective. For one, there’s a 
story that holds a cohesive thread, 
backed by some real revolution in 
the monster Al department. It con- 
cerns Gordon Freeman (you) a bril- 
liant scientist with a penchant for 
the kind of quantum mechanics that 


In 1993, scientists in Innsbruck “teleported 













sissis 


Secret research stations wouldn’t be secret without a helping of green ooze to put off potential infiltrators, 


Scripted sequences bring the game world to life. Helicopters buzz overhead sending you scurrying for alien-infested cover. 


It began as just another day at the office. Take your eyes off the controls for just a minute and look what happens. 





The Team Fortress guys were 
delighted to get access to 
Valve’s artists. You can see 
why. It seems that a few 
childhood nightmares are 
seeing the light of day 
through some grim creations. 
Their actions are based on a 
detailed Al model. 


While the story is vital to Freeman’s 
odyssey, there’s no shortage of fire. 


Utilizing the complex script- 
ing language (which will be 
part of the WorldCraft 2.0 
release) squad level actions 
will be possible. Enemies will 
work together with their own 
agendas, providing a greater, 
more cerebral threat to ran- 
domly dodging critters. 


Other shooters: Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK), River Phoenix (heroin), Reggie Miller (3-pointers) 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



FIVE QUESTIONS 


GABE NEWELL IS THE BRAINS BEHIND 
THE BRAINS IN PUTTING TOGETHER 
THE PIECES THAT WILL FINALLY MAKE 
HALF-LIFE A REALITY. 

Q: What’s the coolest Al effect in 
Half-Life ? 

A: I’d have to go with the conversation 
capability for NPCs, because it was 
something that utilizes just about every 
feature (skeletal animation, DSP tech- 
nology, scripted sequences, streaming 
audio) in the engine. 



Enemies will use the environment to their advantage. 


^ sequence and lets the Al take Half-Life box — the release date is 
over if you shoot or get too close to set for a few weeks later. “Team 
the scientist,” explained Newell. Fortress 2 is going to be a much 



It’s not enough these days just to ship 
a first-person shooter with playable 
Internet code. Oh no. This rabid com- 
munity demands more. And it’s getting 
more in the shape of level editors that 
are really putting the creativity back 
into gaming by opening the talent pool 
to the masses of amateurs who might 
just have the knack to get their work 
noticed. (And no Dan, this does not 
include you ... Cone of Tragedy — 
good god.) 

Ben Morris’ WorldCraft appeared as 
one of the most complete Quake level- 
editing tools, and it was also bought by 
Valve to be used as the main level cre- 
ation device for Half-Life. Included on 
the PCXL Disc is an exclusive opportu- 
nity to try out the latest, greatest ver- 
sion (1.6) of a software package that’s 


Q: Unreal vs. Quake II — your call. 

A: Ultima Underworld. 


Of course, you’re also fairly handy 
with an array of weaponry, including 
some top secret experimental hard- 


more polished product [than TF 1],” 
Robin Walker, one of TF Software’s 
three directors, said. “We can capi- 


incredibly flexible and fully featured. 

WorldCraft 2.0 will ship in the Half- 
Life box. “The bottom line is that for 
game developers, Half-Life gives them 


Q: Do you believe that Bill Gates is 
the antichrist? 

A I was at Microsoft for 13 years, and 
blood oaths sworn at midnight prevent 
me from naysaying my Dark Master. 


ware. The action quotient is cer- 
tainly not to be compromised. 

TEAM FORTRESS 2 

While Half-Life’ s single-player story 


talize on all of the resources at both 
Valve and Sierra. Honestly it feels a 
bit like being 10 years old in a candy 
shop with your Mom’s credit card 
(ooh. I’ll have those textures and 


a huge set of tools for building very 
rich story telling, monster behavior, 
and monster-to-monster interactions, 
Newell said. And you too can do this 
— with time and patience! 

Try it out now on the PCXL Disc. 


rts 

0> 

CO 


bo 

a; 


CO 

in 

ON 



You’re not alone in the Black Mesa Laboratory, but 
there are occasions when you’ll wish that you were. 


that model, and some of Kelly’s 
machine gun sounds, and ...).” 

But what’s Team Fortress 2 all 
about? Fundamentally it’s team- 
based multiplayer, playing as dif- 
ferent character classes in collabo- 
ration with colleagues on specifi- 
cally designed maps (20 will ship 
with the TF2 expansion set). Frags 
count, but there are other elements 
to aim for in the familiar CTF/king- 
of-the-hill/base defense/item 
recovery mold. “Our goal is to 
make each of the classes quite dis- 
tinct, and appeal to a different kind 
of gamer. We’ve added a campaign 
system for the clans, which are col- 
lections of maps with different 
game styles so that successful 
teams will need to master a variety 
of techniques,” Walker continued. 

There are real details to the TF2 


has been well-documented in the 
months surrounding its proposed 
and coming release dates, the mul- 
tiplayer aspect was always a gray 
area. What would there be to make 
it more and better than the 18- 
month-old Quake deathmatch? 
Enter Valve’s wallet and the pur- 
chase of Team Fortress Software, 
the three Australian guys behind 
the phenomenally popular Quake 
mod (more popular even than CTF). 

What’s the deal? For starters, TF2 
is not going to ship as part of the 


Q: How much caffeine is consumed in 
the office on a daily basis? 

A: Enough that the store manager for 
the Starbucks next to our office sent us 
a personal thank-you note. 


Q: Who in the industry do you 
respect most? 

A: If I have to reduce it to one, I’d have 
to go with a game designer, and it 
would be one of Warren Spector, Sid 
Meier, and Shigeru Miyamoto. Since 
Warren is the only one of the three I’ve 
met, and since he is amazingly laid-back 
for someone of his accomplishments, i’d 
have to give him the nod. 


gameplay that make it much more 
than a straight frag-fest. To incor- 
porate certain strategies and 
necessitate careful team building 
(and thus organizational qualities) 
TF2 will involve a revamped 
weapon system. 

To make the object of the game 
more easily understood (and there- 
fore accessible to newbies) a com- 
pass point to the flag/base/what- 
ever won’t just point to the end 
location, but will offer a route to get 
there. Newbies seem to figure in 
the whole Valve plan for Half-Life. 
“For people who are new to multi- 
player gaming, Half-Life has a one- 
button multiplayer feature, where 
you click a button, and Half-Life 
does everything else to connect the 
player, configure the game, select 
an appropriate low ping server, 
and put them in the game,” 
explained Newell. And much like 
Unreal and the 3.15 Quake II patch, 
all maps, codes, and skins will 
download automatically. 

As the TF Software guys get set- 
tled in Seattle, Half-Life’ s life 
expectancy has taken a significant 
boost. The multiplayer arena, so 
crucial to continuing franchise 
success, was a potential weakness 
solved in one fell swoop. 

— ROB SMITH seems to have 
spent half his life putting this pre- 
view together. 





This isn’t a Dating Service 

This is where you 

SCORE! 



"NovaLogic's programmers did a 
superb job with the multiplayer 
code — even in games with over 30 
players, there was no perceptible 
lag in close-in combat. " 

m'smiiMT.'' 

— Computer Gaming World 


novaworld 


The 1st [and ONLY] Large-Scale Gaming Service 

that DELIVERS: 

FAST, furious, SMOOTH gameplay 

MODERN COMBAT GAMES COMPETING IN ONE ARENA 
FREE t LARGE-SCALE MULTIPLAYER GAMING 


Most gaming services.offer just matchmaking to players and charge a hefty fee. 
NovaWorld's Integrated Battle Space ™ servers keep you connected with over 
100 other opponents per arena and it's FREE. 



NOVALOGIC* www.novaiogic.com 800.858.1322 IBS — EXPERIENCE IT NOW IWMWOrlll.liel 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 

© 1998 NovaLogic, Inc. NovaLogic and the NovaLogic logo are registered trademarks and NovaWorld, F-22, Raptor, Fulcrum, Delta Force, Integrated Battle Space are trademarks of NovaLogic, Inc. F-16 Multirole 
Fighter, Lockheed Martin and the Lockheed Martin star logo are trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation and are used under license to NovaLogic, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respec- 
tive owners. U.S. Patent #s 5,625,759 and 5,550,959. *With purchase of any NovaLogic product. NovaLogic reserves the right to change the terms of service at any time. 




1 0 out of 1 0. "Descent: Freespace 
The Great War really rocks!" 

- Happy Puppy 


5 out of 5. "Descent Freespace: the Great War 
sets the standard for features that all qames 
(not just space-combat sims) should include." 

- CNET Gamcccntcr 



"Freespace manaqes to outdo all other 
space sims in it's first outinq." 

-- Next Generation Online 

"Freespace will represent the most 
complete and thorouqh space-combat 
experience qou can currently find." 

- Online Games Review 



Cominq September '98. 

60 new missions for Descent: 
Freespace The Great War. New 
ships and weapons will challenge 
your skill and power in a battle 
to the finish. Requires full version. 



Actual qameplaq screens from 3Dfx version 



Official Strateqy 
Guide available 


IIIIBratlymS 

EVERYONE 

n 


E 

STRATEGY GUIDES 

CONTENT RATED BY 

ESRB 


Kiss 



www.interplay.com 


DESCENT FREESPACE THE GREAT WAR: ©1998 Volition, Inc. All Riqhts Reserved. Descent, Descent: FreeSpoce The Great War, Interplay, the 
Interplay loqo and "By Gamers. For Gamers." are trademarks ol Interplay Productions. All Riqhts Reserved. Parallax is a trademark ot Parallax 
Software Corporation. All Riqhts Reserved. Volition and the Volition loqo are trademarks of Volition, Inc. All Riqhts Reserved. Windows ©95 is a 
reqistered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. All Riqhts Reserved. All other trademarks and copyriqhts are the property of their respective owners 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 





_ Tomb Raider 3 






i 

Is more of the same enough? 


A 


mongthe glamour 
and glitz of an array of 
3D engines show- 
cased at E3, Lara’s 
latest adventure didn’t really stand 
out. The three-year-old graphics 
engine has been tweaked, but the 
effects and environments aren’t 
even in the same league as other 
third-person games like Max Payne 
and Heretic II. However, no other 
game in development has Tomb 
Raider 3’s main asset: the busty 
adventurer we all know as Lara 
Croft. She is undoubtedly the 
biggest star in the game industry 
and has helped expand the market 
with her unreal body and adven- 
turous gameplay. 

Complaints poured in that TR2 
was way too similar to the original, 
but that didn’t stop millions of 
gamers from buying and playing the 
hell out of the game. Many in the 
industry have been saying that 
Tomb Raider is tired, old, and does- 
n’t stand a chance against ► 


INFO BOX 

DEVELOPER — > Core Design 
PUBLISHER -» Eidos 
RELEASE DATE — > November ’98 
3D SUPPORT — > Direct3D (patches for 
Glide after release) 

INTGRGST GAUGG 



INT€R€ST€D EXCITED AROUSED 


THG HYPG 


The third Tomb Raider adventure 
promises a revamped engine, better Al, 
new vehicles, and new moves. 


THG HURDLG 


Often gamers will accept sequels that are 
more of the same, but for a third install- 
ment they expect something special. 


THG HIT 


TR’s technology is no longer up to par 
with other 3D action games on the PC, but 
gameplay and Lara should be enough. 



FIVE QUESTIONS 


New lighting effects and scripted events add to the interactive 
movie approach of the game. 


PCXL BRINGS YOU INSIDE THE MIND 
OF TOMB RAIDER 3 PRODUCER TROY 
HORTON, ALL THE WAY FROM DERBY, 
ENGLAND. 


Q: How is TR3 going to take advan- 
tage of Voodoo 2 and other second- 
generation accelerators? 

A: As with TR2, we’re using Direct3D in 
order to support as many 3D cards as 
possible. 

Q: Do you have any secret renders of 
Lara in the raw? 

A My answer depends on if you think 
my bosses will read this. 

Q: How cool is it having a nursing 
school in Derby? 

A It’s brilliant. They hook us up on the 
rehydration IV after a long weekend on 
the piss. 

Q: The question we’re all dying to 
know: How is Lara in the sack (yes, we 
know she isn’t real but indulge us)? 

A You mean a gunny sack race? Like at 
a family picnic? She would probably do 
very well, being the athlete that she is! 
Q: Do you get to pick the Lara models? 
Because if you need any help ... 

A The execs lock themselves in a 
room for a few days while “auditions” 
take place. 













THE RGAL LARA 


With Paramount 
starting production 
on Tomb Raider: The 
Movie, we thought 
this would be a good 
opportunity to test 
out some candidates 
on the casting couch. 


ELIZABETH HURLEY 

© She’s got the 
accent, height, 
and looks 


Mmmm ... Lara. She’s so cute when she’s mad. 


has focused on creating a new, 


style. The key to stealthy game- 


Smooth particle effects and 
transparencies showcase 
Lara’s other guns. 



Gravity finally caught up with 
Lara as she can no longer stop 
herself from falling forward. 


^ the new wave of games. One 
key ingredient they’re forgetting is 
that gameplay, not graphics, is 
what makes a great game. Despite 
the many efforts to clone Tomb 
Raider, no game delivers a better 
cinematic feel or sprawling adven- 
ture. Sure the battle scenes in TR 


more interactive world for Lara to 
explore. TR3 takes Lara to the 
exotic locales of Antarctica, India, 
a tropical rainforest, Area 51, and 
London. A new landscape system 
incorporating triangles, improved 
texture palettes, transparencies, 
and other particle effects promises 
to liven up the graphics. Other cos- 
metic enhancements such as 
snow, wind, rain, footsteps in the 
snow, blowing leaves, fog, dark- 
ness, and even some new duds for 
Lara are likely to alter the environ- 
ment just enough so it seems like 
a whole new game. 

What wasn’t evident in the early 
version I saw were upgrades in 
gameplay. Core Design promises 
new moves, new vehicles, and new 


play is in the enemies’ Al, which 
was abysmal in previous TR 
games. Core assure us that its 
programmers have spent a great 
deal of time and energy to wisen 
up the baddies, but we’ll wait to 
see on that. The vehicles that 
debuted in Tomb Raider 2 are now 
going to be a more integral part of 
the gameplay, with a new vehicle 
for each world. Vehicles thus far: a 
jeep, a motorboat, a motorcycle, 
and a water raft, which Lara rides 
down a maze of perilous water- 
falls. New moves including knock- 
ing down doors, crawling, rope 
swinging, and wall jumping give 
Lara more tools for trekking 
around the titanic levels and 
round out the new features. 


© Going to need a 
padded bra and 
some toughening 
up 

DEMI MOORE 

© Like Lara, horny 
men — as 
opposed to genet- 
ics — created her 
body 

© The accent is key, 
and her face could 
use some more 
work 

VANESSA DEMOUY 

© Already has the 
outfit, and we’ve 
got access to 
naked pictures 

© She’s French, she 
can’t act, and she 
still wears a train- 
ing bra 

LUCY LAWLESS 

© Tough as nails, 
accent, and strong 
lesbian following 





are almost laughable, but the inge- 
nious puzzles, dramatic environ- 
ments, and well-crafted levels are 
the real reason people love the first 
two incarnations. 

Rather than spending a year 
developing a new engine, Core 


puzzles that, if pulled off, could 
once again make Lara the queen of 
adventure. For example, in the 
London level Lara slips into a tight 
black cat suit and has to sneak 
around the city, rather than charge 
around in her usual gun-blazing 


Additions aside, Tomb Raider 3 is 
likely to be more of the same, which 
to some ain’t so bad. 

- MIKE SALMON has the 
Nude Raider website as his 
startup page. 


© A bit butch for our 
liking 

SANDRA BULLOCK 

© She’s got dark hair 
and is an actress 

© Too cute, flat 
chest, and she 
isn’t much of an 
actress 



o 


crq 

"a 

a> 

CD 

3 

C= 

in 

CD 

3 

Q_ 



New moves such as climbing 
forward should provide even 
better platformlike action. 


A new vehicle for each world 
should break up the game- 
play and keep things fresh. 


Otherworldly beasts and their 
vile traps are certain to be 
tougher this time around. 


Lara just won’t give up that 
Banana Republic circa 1983 
fashion statement. 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 










MAGIC 


ar 


Interactive Magic 

P.O. Box 13491 

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709 


OPTIMIZED FOR 
3D ACCELERATOR 
CAROS 


UltraFighters isa trademark and Interactive Magic is a registered trademark of 
Interactive Magic, Inc.' Copyright 1998 Eagle Interactive. All Rights Reserved. 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 


Drakan 




DEVELOPER’S TRACK RECORD 


HISTOGRAM j avg. score | NA 


iJ-te- 




-e- 


NA 


Drakan 


Look out Lara, there’s a new girl in town 


A 


t first glance you may 
think Psygnosis’ 
Drakan is just 
another slick Tomb 
Raider knockoff. It has all the right 
components (a sultry heroine, 
exotic locales, and high adven- 
ture) to be a clone, but play it 
once, and you’ll realize the two 
titles have very little in common. 

While Lara Croft’s adventures 
involved quiet exploration and the 
occasional moment of action, 
Drakan’s lead character Rynn is 
more about intense combat. On 
the ground she will constantly face 
mythical creatures and surly 
giants in hand-to-hand combat, 
while in the air she fights danger- 
ous flying creatures bent on her 
destruction. This mix of two gam- 
ing styles is at the very heart of 
Drakan, and the reason the game 
feels so original. 

On foot Rynn has more than 50 
different weapons at her disposal, 
and a unique battle system that 
enables her to seamlessly mix 


INFO BOX 


DEVELOPER — ) Surreal Software 

PUBLISHER-) Psygnosis 
RELEASE DATE-) Qi’99 
3D SUPPORT -) Direct3D, Glide 


INTEREST GAUGE 


INTERESTED 


THE HYPE 


Drakan introduces a lead character that 
could give Lara Croft a run for her money 
— and it includes innovative gameplay. 


THE HURDLE 


Lara-clones and games that combine 
styles have been notorious failures. 


THE HIT 


The game looks incredible, and the 
aggressive approach by Surreal Studios 
looks to have the hallmarks of success. 



The flight model in Drakan is on par with, if not better than, any 
flight simulator we’ve seen. 


moves. You can command her 
through combos like jumping, 
slashing, and then immediately 
moving to a defensive position 
without ever having to sit through a 
sequence of canned animations. 

For those who cannot advocate this 
kind of weapon-oriented violence, 
the game includes plenty of flashy 
spells that let you fry enemies to a 
crisp without any swordplay guilt. 
(But honestly, if you can’t advocate 
videogame violence then maybe 
you should be reading Family PC 
instead of PC ACCELERATOR.) 

The air combat side of the game 
is equally well designed, letting 
you take control of what is quite 
possibly the first fully functional 
dragon simulator. Thanks to tight 
control, this half of the title is a 
complete game by itself, with a 
completely different strategy than 
the ground-based segment. It also 
promises to make the multiplayer 
mode more exciting as players go 
beyond the usual frag-fest, ^ 


If you have to look at someone’s backside for an entire game, 
then I suppose you could do worse than this. 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 








Stephanie Seymour’s brother Lance works for GT Interactive 





^ fighting both on the ground 
and in the air. The deathmatches 
will also enable up to eight play- 
ers to battle only on foot, battle 
only in air, or battle for a single 
dragon and the air superiority that 
it brings. 

This two-tiered gameplay takes 
place over a beautifully rendered 
fantasy world. The graphics 
engine enables Rynn to walk miles 
on foot, and then mount a dragon 
and fly over the same exact land- 


scape in a mere fraction of the 
time, which makes the worlds feel 
incredibly real, despite their fan- 
tasy origins. Fourteen levels will 
take you through five environ- 
ments that include logical choices 
like mountainous terrain and 
snowcapped hills, as well as a sur- 
real fantasy level whose only basis 
in reality is the dreams of the 
Canadian snowboarding team. 

Each of these worlds is popu- 
lated with smoothly animated bad 


Does a fire-breathing monster between your legs sound good? 


Adventure elements such as climbing around to find secret areas promise to add depth, not to mention the necessary ladders. 


A variety of enemies on land and air keeps you on your toes. 




Drakan’s incredible graphics engine produces eye-popping detail 



• • 


Drakan 


pReuieus 



guys such as hammer-wielding 
trolls and nonplayer characters 
that make Drakan play like an ani- 
mated storybook. In fact, many of 
the in-game characters will inter- 
act with Rynn to move the story 
along, keeping the plot and game- 
play together within the title’s 3D 
engine. The game’s Al promises to 
be equally impressive, with 
unique touches such as giants 
who will use anything at their dis- 
posal to fight (including any 


unlucky bad guy who happens to 
get in the way during battle). 

Drakan is a fresh and exciting 
prospect that steps beyond the 
safety of me-too game design. 

When it finally hits stores early next 
year, it is unlikely that any other 
game on the shelves will look quite 
like it. 

— DAN EGGER has gone through 
three body revisions in the past 
year, but he still needs some work. 


“Bring it on Lara! I’ll take you anytime and anywhere.” 


Which is cooler? Flying on dragons or slaying them? 


FIVE QUESTIONS 


CASTING CALL 


PCXL TALKS WITH SURREAL STUDIOS 
HEAD ALAN PATMORE ABOUT HIS NEW 
GAME AND THE CHARACTER RYNN. 

Q: Be honest: Lara and Rynn walk into 
a bar and get into a brawl. Who walks 
out on her own power? 

A: Rynn, of course! She is younger, 
much more athletic, and has many more 
moves. She can slice and dice any 
opponent even while shaking her booty 
in circles. We also can’t ignore the fact 
that Rynn has much better cleavage! 

Q: What games were the most 
inspirational when you set out to 
create Drakan ? 

A All of the old fantasy RPGs like 
Ultima and Wizardry. Everything Bull- 
frog did, especially Magic Carpet. 

Q: What’s up with names like Drakan, 
Dragoon, or the like when we all know 
it’s just a dragon? 

A: Dragons in our game are still called 
dragons. We couldn’t name the game 
“Dragon” due to legal issues, so 
we’re using the name of the game 
universe, Drakan. 

Q: Let’s get this out of the way before 
we get ten thousand letters from horny 
readers. Is there a Nude Rider code? 

A No ... wink, wink, nudge, nudge. 

Q: When you decided to make Rynn 
more shapely, were there any models/ 
actresses that you patterned the 
design on? 

A: We digitally composited the follow- 
ing models into an averaged vertex 
mesh to come up with the “perfect” 
female character. You can imagine who 
we’re talking about: Elle MacPherson, 
Nikki Taylor, Krissy Taylor (gross! she's 
dead!!), Linda Evangelista, Karen Mul- 
der, Daniela Pestova. 


OK, the Tomb Raider 
casting frenzy is already 
out of control. So to get 
a jump on the casting 
fury that could surround 
a Drakan film, we offer 
some early suggestions. 
And in case Surreal con- 
tinues to change the 
looks of its lead charac- 
ter, we provide ideas for 
the different Rynn char- 
acter models that 
they’ve already gone 
through. 

RYNN [CURRENT MODEl] 

STEPHANIE 

SEYMOUR—* 

She’s got the look and 
has experience wearing 
bustiers 

RYNN (ULTRA-THIN WAIF 
MODEL] 

KATE MOSS -i? 

She has a skin-and- 
bones body, but she’d 
have to work out. Right 
now she can’t lift a 
bagel, let alone a sword 

RYNN [MANLY MODEL] 

MARV ALBERT-:? 

He already has experi- 
ence wearing leather, 
and he’s probably into 
reptiles 

AROKH (THE DRAGON] 

GEORGE HAMILTON-* 

His overly tanned 
leather face is just a 
beach trip away from 
having dragonlike 
scales 


LD 

rt> 

~o 

<—*• 

CD 

3 

cr 

( D 




Elle MacPherson appears naked in the movie Sirens (just being helpful) 








IPS TIME YOU 





of. ancl Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun, and Westwood Studios are trademarks of, Westwood Studios, Inc. © 1998 Westwood Studios, Inc. All rights reserved. 


? •- 
* ~ 

rj 

! - * 


■ . ■■ ■ ' 

(F"^| 

}:■ ■ 


8 

r . :} 



g^yy 



Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 













00 

On 

On 


cu 

_Q 

E 

<D 

Q. 

0> 

LO 

oc 

1 


5 


ixty-foot bio-mechani- 
cal entities blowing 
the crap out of other 
6o-foot bio-mechani- 
cal entities while unceremoniously 
trashing a sprawling city of the 
future — sounds like a concept 
right out of PC ACCELERATOR’S 
Ideal Games folder. 

As developer Accolade moves 
its corporate strategy progres- 
sively into the burgeoning market 
of action, action, action and 3D 
acceleration, Slave Zero is a pro- 
ject entirely in keeping with this 


philosophy. The pitch is simple: 
The futuristic city of Zo (inspired 
by the cities of Blade Runner, 
Judge Dredd, and various 
Japanese anime) is under the evil 
grip of a character called Maldar. 
He’s a bad guy (hence the evil 
grip). You’re a good guy, in league 
with a rebellious faction that 
steals a Slave. These (6o-foot tall 
bio-mechanical) entities are 
armed to the teeth (if they had 
teeth) and surprisingly deft. 

Destroying the city’s infrastruc- 
ture is the plan. Upsetting 



Multiplayer arenas will allow eight Slaves to battle, and the 
familiar mouse/keyboard combo wilt be fully supported. 


(D 

> 


o 


o 

CL 

n3 



Smaller sentinels are the 
main enemy to Slaves. 


INFO BOX 


o 

-Q 

E 


o 

E 


DEVELOPER — > Accolade 

PUBLISHER Accolade 
RELEASE DATE -> Spring ’99 
3D SUPPORT — > All APIs 


INTEREST GAUGE 



INTERESTED EXCITED AROUSED 


THE HYPE 


A destructible city, huge mechs, and 
action to fry your eyes. 



THE HURDLE 


It’s a tough market. The Ecstasy engine 
has mucho competition. 


THE HIT 


An appreciation that the game world will 
have evolved between now and the pro- 



62 


posed ship date sets Slave Zero up well. 


The dark matter rifle creates a small gravity well that pulls any object in range into it. 












• • 







Slave Zero 


Five QUESTIONS 




Size DOCS MATTeR 


Key to Slave Zero are 
the enormous 6o-foot 
mechs and the de- 
struction that ensues. 
Here are a few other 
cases in which size 
does matter. 


SHAWN BRADLEY 

This skinny white guy 
makes millions for 
being extraordinarily 
uncoordinated. If he 
was 6'i" even the 
Dallas Mavericks 
wouldn’t want him 


CHRIS FARLEY 

The key to energetic 
fat-guy humor is 
being fat. Without 
that extra weight 
Chris Farley would 
still be alive, but 
he wouldn’t be 
very funny 


TOMMY LEE 

Pamela Anderson and 
Heather Locklear 
didn’t marry him for 
his looks, talent, or 
calm demeanor (a 
lack of these qualities 
is the reason they 
divorced him) 


GODZILLA 

Big lizard, big budget, 
big piece of crap. Proof 
of the less fortunate 
man’s mantra that it 
isn’t the size, it’s what 
you do with it 


SIXTY-FOOT SLAVES? PCXL JUST HAD 
TO GRILL SLAVE ZERO PRODUCER 
MATT POWERS ABOUT THIS ONE. 


Q: Who would you like to be your slave? 

A: Either agent Dana Scully or “7 of 9” 
from “StarTrek” (or both!). 


Q: Do you think the U.S. should apolo- 
gize for slavery? 

A: Yes. 


Sixty-foot mechs can strafe! Jetpacks help them manuever as well 
as enable them to hover. 


— ROB SMITH isn’t anybody’s 
slave. 


A procession of sentinels is 
about to fry. 


There’s no time for sight-see- 
ing despite impressive levels. 


Q: Who do you most admire in 
the industry? 

A John Carmack. He is very talented, has 
shipped incredible product, no overclock- 
ing ego, shares his knowledge, continues 
to work hard and push the industry. 

Q: Specific card API or OpenGL and 
D3D - which is the best way to go? 

A Each card seems to perform better 
when we are able to tune the code 
specifically for that card. Overall, D3D is 
a very good route to go as long as the 
engine allows specific code to be writ- 
ten for each card. The Ecstasy engine 
has a separate dynamic link library for 
each 3D card. These DLLs are tuned for 
maximum performance for each card. 

Q: Unreal vs. Quake II — your call? 

A: Unreal single player, Quake II mult- 
player (no contest). 


Got a problem? 


Cars will react, crash into each other, and explode as they avoid 
being stomped. 




Watch it! A good vantage 
point to snipe with rockets. 


^ the populace with a harshly 
worded leaflet campaign, and 
yelling in the streets with a sand- 
wich board tied around your shoul- 
ders is not the style. Jumping into 
this destruction-dealing beast and 
destroying communication arrays, 
power lines, and ordinance facto- 
ries is more befitting. 

“Everything you want to do with a 
6o-foot mech in a bustling metropo- 
lis, we want you to do,” said Slave 
Zero’s lead designer Sean Vesce. 
“We’re creating an environment with 
a lot of interactivity — a dynamic 
city, rather than being static (using 
portals etc.), where you can move 
and destroy stuff.” 

Slave Zero will use its own pro- 
prietary engine based around 3D 
Studio Max 2. As producer Matt 
Powers commented, “We knew 
from the start that we were creat- 
ing a game to release in early ’99. 


We looked at the Quake and 
Unreal engines, as well as others, 
but we needed something that 
was going to be cutting edge when 
it came out. So we’re going hard- 
ware-acceleration only.” By using 
a dynamic link library (DLL) sys- 
tem, Slave Zero will include sup- 
port for all the various accelerator 
card APIs specifically. 

“Creating a sense of scale is 
very important for us,” continued 
Powers. “We’ve gone with a third- 
person view because the detail in 
the Slave animation and the scale 
and scope of the city is something 
we want to show off and some- 
thing you, as the player, will want 
to see.” In the playable version I 
saw, the sense really is of control- 
ling a behemoth mech. 

“Fast action is vital,” added 
Vesce. “We’re going to throw a lot 
of enemies at you so there won’t 
be much time for exploration. You 
know that feeling when you’re 
playing Quake, when all the out- 
side world is shut off as you’re on 
a spree — in the zone? That’s 
what we’re after all the time in 
Slave Zero." 

About 12 weapons are planned, 
including some that interact with 
the city environments. You’ll be 
able to see shockwave effects on 
the city — cars will crash and 
bridges will collapse. There is 
even an electromagnetic pulse 
weapon that will shut down the 
lights of the entire city. 

For a game still some five 
months from alpha stage when I 
saw it, Slave Zero was looking very 
polished. The important aspect is 
whether the crucial elements of 
scale and interactivity can be 
blended in to a game with purpose 
and action. 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 









MM 


TRUE TERRAIN LANDSCAPES. YES, VIRGINIA, 
THERE'S A SINFULLY REAL WORLD OUT THERE. 
EVEN WEATHER! 


MULTIPLAYER FOCUS. THE FIRST 3D SHOOTER DESIGNED FROM 
THE BOTTOM UP TO MAXIMIZE FULL-SQUAD, TOTAL-IMMERSION 
MULTIWARRIOR GAMING. 




Jh ic 

rSfc c 



Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 


1988 Sierra On-Line. Inc. All rights reserved. © and TM designate trademarks ol. or licensed to Sierra On-Line. Inc. 


DEDICATED COMMANDER. 

ONE LEADER PER TRIBE, SCOPING THE 
NASTIES, DEPLOYING THE TROOPS, 
CALLING THE SHOTS - LIKE A TRUE 
COMMANDER AND CONDUERER. 


WWW.STARSIEGE.COM 


COMBAT VEHICLES. WHY TRUDGE 
WHEN YOU CAN TRANSPORT 
YOU AND YOUR BUDDIES IN 
SCOUT FLYERS AND ARMORED 
PERSONNEL CARRIERS. 




MOTION CAPTURE ANIMATION 
SKELETAL ANIMATION? NO. 
FLUID, FULL-MOTION BODY 
MOVEMENTS? YEP 


VAST INTEGRATED WORLDS. " LEVELS " BEGONE. 
PLAYERS DASH INDOORS AND OUTDOORS WITH 
NO LAG OR LOADTIMES WHATSOEVER. 


Coming this fall. A revolutionary first-person shooter designed from scratch to maximize the 
multiplayer gaming experience for 2 to 32 players. Just enough single-player missions to 
get your boots wet, then it's all teamwork. 

Imagine countless independent servers ( all FREE) with thousands of independent warrior 
tribes - each with their customized names, symbols, 
warriors, and colors - battling for supremacy over the 
Internet. It's action. It's heat. It's TRIBES. Join us. 


A JjllRRA COM PA l\Y 


THE ULTIMATE 


IN FIRST-PERSON SQUAD WARFARE 




PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



Re qu iem 


Cyclone busts into the first-person shooter scene with righteous fury 




ust when people were 
getting used to the 
idea of a showdown 
between Id and Epic for 
the first-person shooter cash flow, 
along come upstarts with their 
own ideas. Started more than two 
years ago, Requiem is one such 
upstart-in-the-making, and its 
developers hope their title stands 
out as a real player rather than an 
also-ran. The daunting challenge 
of creating strong technology 
that’s comparable to the heavy- 
weights’ while simultaneously 
working on innovative design 
would be enough to cause most 
design houses to cash in and quit. 
Not Cyclone, however, whose last 
effort, Uprising, was a huge critical 
(if not commercial) success. From 
an early look at the game, still a 
few months from completion, it 
seems that the choir is clearing its 
throat for a mighty Requiem. 

The main thing Cyclone is stress- 
ing is the story and character inter- 


CM 

CM 


INFO BOX 


DEVELOPER —> Cyclone Studios 
PUBLISHER -> 3DO 
RELEASE DATE -> 03*98 
3D SUPPORT — > Direct3D, OpenGL, Glide 


INTGRGST GAUGG 



INT6R6ST6D eXCIT6D AR0US6D 


THG HYPG 


Requiem uses one of the few original 
engines to hold its own with the big boys, 
and has strong single-player design. 


THG HURDLG 


Competition between first-person shooters 
is intense and is only getting more vicious 
this summer. 


THG HIT 


If it gets enough marketing support, it could 
do some damage. Controversial subject 
matter may be enough. 



action. The plot centers around a 
group of renegade angels bent on 
wiping out humanity, and as 
Malachi, an angel yourself, your 
mission is to crash their little party. 

“The first and foremost reason I 
would buy Requiem is the story,” 


said lead world designer Phil Co. 
“It really plays through like a 
movie.” Well-presented scripted 
events drive the story forward. For 
example, in one early scene, you 
walk in on a firing line execution of 
some random prisoners. The 


guards ask ’em a few questions, 
and then shoot 'em. If you feel like 
being a hero, you could intervene 
and face the consequences. Later 
in the game, you must rescue a 
polygonal babe from some sort of 
torture device (unless, of course, 
you enjoy watching that sort of 
thing). After freeing her, you must 
carry her on your back for the 
remainder of the mission, resulting 
in a hindrance to maneuverability. 

Another thing that adds to the 
immersion factor is the amount of 
interaction that you’ll have with 
nonplayer characters. The first 
time you walk into a bar bustling 
with life, you have to suppress the 
urge to mow down all patrons just 
because they’re moving polygons 
(I hope they give us the option, 
though). Requiem is one of the 
first games aiming to really take 
advantage of the interaction ^ 



This guy came to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and he’s all out of bubblegum. 










CHARLIE'S 

ANGELS 


FIVE QUESTIONS 


CHARLIE S ANGELS 


As we contemplated playing the angel 
Malachi in Requiem, we began to remi- 
nisce about some other angels ... 


FARRAH FAWCETT 

POSED IN PLAYBOY: Yes 
TV MOVIES: 18 

BEST MOVIE TITLE: The Feminist and 
the Fuzz 

LAST SEEN: Showing it all in the Play- 
boy video Farrah Fawcett: All of Me 


Don 


make 


me 


get biblical on yer ass. 



Milton’s Paradise Lost inspired the plot, which is decidedly dark. 


PRODUCER KERRY MOFFITT AND 
WORLD DESIGNER PHIL CO CHEW THE 
FAT WITH PC ACCELERATOR. 

Q: So what right do you guys have 
making a First-person shooter if you’re 
not from Texas? 

PC: Well, LucasArts made one, and it’s 
my favorite one. 

Q: How many commandments do you 
break in an average week? If you say 10, 
we’re getting the cops down here. 

PC: Well, I think there’s only four of 
us who are Catholic. 

KM: Let’s say seven. 

Q: Game developer walks into a bar. 
What’s the percentage that he walks 
out with a good-looking girl? 

PC: 100% — cuz I’ll be with my wife. 
KM: I’d say 78, 79%. (We've got to 
find this bar for Ed!) 

Q: Camping — for it or against it? 

PC: Definitely against. I’ll never make 
a spot on any of my levels where you 
can camp. 

Q: Have you ever seen a grown 
man naked? 

Both : Yes (while looking knowingly 
into each other's eyes). 


^ (and nonkilling) of NPCs. This 
important gameplay mechanic 
could really make a difference in 
competition with the slew of gore- 
fests on the way. 

The original engine is truly a 
labor of love, having evolved many 
times before reaching its current 
impressive state. “It’s totally com- 
petitive with Quake II — it has 
realtime lighting effects, particles, 
all that glitzy stuff, and a really 
solid animation system,” producer 
Kerry Moffitt said. The combina- 
tion rigid/soft body animation 
model allows for some incredibly 
fluid, lifelike animations that don’t 
tax the processor too much. 

In addition to a slew of big guns 
at your disposal, you get to kick 
pagan ass with some righteous 
angelic powers. Handled much in 
the same way as IK’S Force Powers, 
Malachi’s divine powers range from 
a “super jump” to turning your 
enemies into pillars of salt or, even 
more devious, resurrecting fallen 


enemies to fight for you. Cool. 

The Requiem team has its own 
spin on the multiplayer thing. “We 
think that one-on-one play and team 
play is gonna be where it’s at,” Co 
said. “I really like team arena and 
one-on-one because you can hone 
your skills and see who’s really the 
better player. We’re gonna have 
smaller maps that are really well 
balanced.” Angelic powers will 
throw in an x factor — among the 
more cunning uses is possession, in 
which you can wrest control of 
someone’s body away from him, 
forcing that character to attack his 
own teammates, waste ammo, or 
commit suicide. 

With all its competition it’ll be 
tough for this title to get the atten- 
tion it deserves, but I wouldn’t be 
surprised if Requiem emerges as a 
dark horse in the first-person 
shooter war. 

— ED LEE, like R. Kelly, believes 
he can fly. 


KATE JACKSON 

POSED IN PLAYBOY: No 
TV MOVIES: 24 

BEST MOVIE TITLE: Satan’s School 
for Girls 

LAST SEEN: Starring in CBS television 
movie What Happened to Bobby Earl ? 

JACLYN SMITH 

POSED IN PLAYBOY: No 
TV MOVIES: 26 

BEST MOVIE TITLE: Love Can Be Murder 
LAST SEEN: Hawking her line of women’s 
clothing in a Tulsa, Oklahoma Kmart 

CHERYL IADD 

POSED IN PLAYBOY: No 
TV MOVIES: 27 

BEST MOVIE TITLE: The Devil’s Daugh- 
ter (also appeared in Satan’s School 
for Girls ) 

LAST SEEN: Writing a children’s 
book called The Adventures of Little 
Nettie Windship 

SHELLEY HACK 

POSED IN PLAYBOY: No 
TV MOVIES: 14 

BEST MOVIE TITLE: Single Bars, 

Single Women 

LAST SEEN: Reading for audiotape of 
the book Lord ofHawkfell Island 

TANYA ROBERTS 

POSED IN PLAYBOY: Yes 

TV MOVIES: 4 

BEST MOVIE TITLE: The Yum Yum Girls 
LAST SEEN: Starring in Access Soft- 
ware’s The Pandora Directive 


Percentage of action gotten by developer^ 30% (without John Romero: 16%) 








Allison's wonderland in 

scientifically perfected 
eye-popping 360-degree sgace cam. 


along with Allison and her 
host of mutant allies! 


‘along with Allison 's dancing as she 
hypnotizes the bunnies to do her bidding! 


Space Bunnies Must Die! is a trademark of JINX. All other trademarks are proper 






tL,- 

6 , q *1 











mn i ip&jf » i \ m 










L IKE MANY 

WOMEN, 

Ml AlUSoN 

ns LOOM INC 

FOR AN EFFECTIVE 

HA RE RE MOV A L 

SYSTEM. 

An army of sinister mutants from beyond!!! l*** 00 ^ 

The shocking story of a kidnapped country starlet with a twang and a twin!!! 
This sassy rodeo-riding waitress is servin' up a serious side-order of slaughter!! ! 




WricordM Panasonic 


WWW.SPACEBUNNIES.COM 

WWW.RIPCORDGAMES.COM 



Screaming Yellow Zonkers is spelunker slang for diarrhea 



Command & C&C: Red Lands of Blade 
Conquer Alert Lore II Runner 



Conquering the same world in incredible new detail 


00 

ON 

ON 

tH 


<U 

JO 

E 

<d 

4-> 

CL 

a> 

co 

Od 

1 


CJ 

Q. 




THE HYPE 


THE HURDLE 


THG HIT 


It’s C&C. Terrain and Al problems have 
been addressed. Walkers, mutants, jump 
infantry, and hovercraft are added. 


Two uninspired add-on packs for Red 
Alert and a poor online-only game may 
have burst the C&C bubble. 


As long as Westwood doesn’t cheese out 
on the intermission FMV setups, this 
game looks like it’ll do C&C proud. 


This would be a good time to take out that bridge (unless, of course, you are the NOD). 


INFO BOX 


night missions, and even large, 
detailed urban environments that 
put the skimpy little scattered vil- 
lages of Red Alert to graphic 
shame — but my god, is this game 
ugly. Nasty. Real wanna-take-a- 
shower-time stuff. 

The time is approximately 20 
years after the GDI/NOD conflict of 
the original C&C, and the whole 
Tiberium thing has gotten horribly 
out of control. Not to put too fine a 
point on it, the Earth is screwed; the 
nutrient-leeching Tiberium menace 
has ravaged the temperate portions 
of the planet, reducing once-vibrant 
lands to barren, craggy, poisoned 
wastes veined with the glowing, fes- 
tering alien ore. GDI forces have 
relocated their operations com- 


Detailed city architecture 
can be taken out or used for 
strategic advantage. 


Attacking at night is sweet, but 
wartime courtesy forbids 
attack during “The Simpsons.” 


pletely off-world (and the majority 
of the civilian populations to the 
poles), while NOD factions, fiery- 
eyed with visions of a mutant, 
Tiberium-fueled master race, have 
gone underground. Welcome to 
post-Tiberium Earth; try not to step 
on the mutated corpses, and have a 
nice freakin’ day. 

One of the great things about 
the Command & Conquer universe 


ell, here’s to 
dubious honors: 
Westwood Stu- 
dio’s forthcom- 
ing realtime opus, Command & 
Conquer: Tiberian Sun, is just 
about the ugliest strategy game 
I’ve ever seen. 


OK, now before you start chok- 
ing on your Screaming Yellow 
Zonkers or whatever you stuff your 
face with, perhaps I should elabo- 
rate: The graphics, the lighting, 
the look of this game is gorgeous. 
There are realtime lighted explo- 
sions, scattered debris, moodily lit 


DEVELOPER — > Westwood Studios 

PUBLISHER —> Virgin 

RELEASE DATE -> 04*98 
3D SUPPORT None 


INTEREST GAUGE 










Five QUeSTIONS 


ERIC YEO, THE LEAD LEVEL DESIGNER 
OF TIBERIAN SUN, GAVE PCXL THE 
INSIDE INFO ON LIFE INSIDE WEST- 
WOOD STUDIOS. 

Q: What are the long-range plans. If 
any, for the expansion of the Command 
& Conquer universe? 

A: We did announce some time ago that 
we're going to create a 3D, third-person 
action game called Commando. There is 
some very cool technology involved, and 
we'll be able to talk about it next year. 

Q: And In the RTS market? 

A: We’ve also hinted at the fourth 
installment of the C&C strategy games, 
which would continue the telling of the 
Tiberium Wars epic. 

Q: What are the most common mis- 
takes developers make in creating 
realtime strategy games? 

A: Now the trend seems to be making 
RTS games as complex as turn-based 
games used to be. And too often all 
those features just end up as another 
bullet point on the back of the box. 

Q: Who's the sorest loser In the West- 
wood offices, competition-wise? 

A: Me, so don’t screw around. I will 
destroy you. 

Q: Quick — you're gonna be stuck In 
some god-awful, pisspot, Third-World 
South American country for a month, 
and can only keep one game on your 
laptop (not any of Westwood’s, either, 
buddy). Which one and why? 

A: Well, if there's no one around to 
deathmatch with. I'd have to go with 
Unreal (with the editor so I can at least 
make more maps). But if the natives 
have a LAN set up, I’d go with Quake II. 


has always been the integration of 
the story into the missions, either 
via FMV sequences to set the 
mood, or by the slight tweaking of 
in-mission elements — characters, 
convoys, vital installations, or (in 
one memorable case) the laws of 
physics themselves. Tiberian Sun 
continues in this vein, expanding 
its now rather dismal future-his- 
tory storyline to show the awful 
effect Tiberium has had on the 
world. Huge fields of the stuff 
(now glowing a faint, sinister 
green) tentacle across the battle- 
field. Since you can’t build on it, 
one new threat is the possibility 
an infectious hunk of it will fall 
from the sky and smack into your 
base. It’s delivered either by ran- 
dom bombardment from space or 
by intentional enemy delivery (an 
ugly form of bio-warfare, rather 
like catapulting a rotting horse’s 
head over the wall into Masada — 
except this horse head takes root 
in the ground and flourishes). Just 
to add to the fun, there’s also a 



Command & Conquer; Tiberian Sun 


easy as crossing ridged mountain 
terrain) but gives the playing sur- 
face character. Now there’s 
evidence of a society on this 
Tiberium-polluted planet. 

Environmental effects like ran- 
dom freak ion-storms shut down all 
your high-tech units for an unspeci- 
fied amount of time, forcing you to 
change mental gears in the middle 


Laser cannons and the ion blast make 
Tiberian Sun look much better than 
Red Alert. 


FMV FOLKLORE 

. 

I • , ■ ^ 

.* L -J, V. V 

•' : ..i . 


new, less-than-stable blue variety 
of Tiberium that can explode when 
fired upon, or perhaps for no good 
reason at all. 

New units, structures, and game- 
play mechanics abound, of course. 
Ground-effect vehicles can hover 
across rivers, lakes, and patches of 
ice (heavy tracked units, on the 
other hand, can simply crack said 
ice and fall through, which is kind 
of funny to watch if it’s not happen- 
ing to you). Searchlights now stand 
sweeping watch in nighttime mis- 
sions, and when they finally spot a 
target, they’ll lock onto it, tracking 
it relentlessly as other defense 
mechanisms begin to target and 
fire. Defensive barriers can now be 
laid out with point-to-point auto- 
mated construction, instead of the 
tile-by-tile micromanagement 
required in the earlier games (it still 
costs you the same money, but 
takes immensely fewer years off 
your life in terms of stress). 

Those urban environments are 
one of the biggest advances. It’s 
about time you could destroy a 
town during a siege. Not only does 
it add extra strategy to the maps 
(navigating down pothole riddled 


roads with your ravening hordes of 
NOD buggies won’t be quite so 



The 3D terrain greatly alters 
the way the game plays. 



Larger maps don't take away 
from the constant action. 



Why would you wear red to a 
battle? It just isn’t military. 


of a hectic base-defense battle. 
Various combinations of terrain 
considerations (slope, line-of-sight, 
ground condition, etc.) can put a 
serious logistical dent in — can you 
gimme a hallelujah — the almighty 
Tank Rush. 

You’ll notice that the interface 
remains pretty much untouched. 
Why fix what ain’t broken? But the 
whole graphics overhaul gives a 
great deal more character to the 
browns and greens that domi- 
nated the earlier games. 

I’d throw in a few downsides 
here just for the sake of editorial 
balance, but the fact is, I really 
didn’t see any. I was a little 
bummed at the apparent absence 
of nukes, but they’ve got some 
stuff in here, like nerve gas, that’s 
even nastier, so no worries there. 
Even the FMV sequences are get- 
ting due care and attention. While 
Westwood officials would neither 
confirm nor deny it, the rumor is 
that they’re working on signing 
sci-fi movie star Michael Biehn for 
one of two key roles. 

Tiberian Sun, ladies and gentle- 
men: I have seen the future, and I 
tell you with glee that it’s going 
to be nasty. Let’s hope it ships 
on time. 

- CHRIS HU DAK’s leather pants 
will undoubtedly protect him 
from Tiberium. 


putting EVA on film. 
Let's just hope who- 
ever they choose to 
play this role fares 
better than others 
who have taken the 
FMV stage. Here is 
the PCXL FMV Hall of 
Shame. 

CHRISTOPHER WALKEN 
APPEARED IN: 

Ripper, Privateer a: 
The Darkening 
CONTRIBUTION: 
Never, ever lowered 
himself to appear in 
an FMV game — he 
sent a mannequin in 
his place 

GILLIAN BONNER 

APPEARED IN: Riana 
Rouge 

CONTRIBUTION: The 
feminist propaganda 
took a hit when you 
could make her pee 
— and watch 

MARK HAMILl 

APPEARED IN: Wing 
Commander series 
CONTRIBUTION: 

Exemplified determi- 
nation by pursuing an 
actingcareer despite 
complete lack of tal- 
ent. It’s amazing 
what Star Wars can 
do for you 

ANYRIVER ENTERTAINMENT 

APPEARED IN: A Fork 
in the Tale 

CONTRIBUTION: Will 
live long in our mem- 
ory for pursuing its 
hopelessly flawed 
dream into 
bankruptcy. Rob 
Schneider, you 
should be ashamed 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 






Michael Crichton wrote The Andromeda Strain and sold it to Hollywood before he graduated 



The Chaos 

Neverhood Island 



Dinosaurs live. And breath. And eat careless adventurers. Like you 


00 

0's 

On 


0 ) 
_Q 

E 

<u 

Q. 

o; 

( f) 

CL 

0 

1 


F 


irst there was Jurassic 
Park and dino-mania 
hit. It’s no surprise that 
the cash cow was 
milked again, this time coming out 
of the sequel udders in nonfat 
form with the crap flick The Lost 
World. But Dreamworks Interac- 
tive, the game arm of the SKG Cor- 
poration, has been working on the 
game version for quite a while, 
creating a world that looks so 
astounding it’s a surprise that 
Trespasser’s hype was somewhat 
muted at E3. 

Having seen Trespasser in 
action, the real-world physics 
model affecting every single 
object, and the dinosaurs running, 
jumping, eating, and breathing, it 
now stands as the game I’m most 
looking forward to playing this fall. 

Project leader Seamus Blackley 
(whose credits include Flight Unlim- 
ited) has a refreshing viewpoint to 
the question of determining the 
story to pursue throughout a game. 


12 


INFO BOX 


DEVELOPER —> Dreamworks 
PUBLISHER Dreamworks 

RELEASE DATE October ’98 
3D SUPPORT Direct3D 


INTEREST GAUGE 



INTERESTED EXCITED AROUSED 


THE HYPE 


Real-world physics, fully interactive envi- 
ronments, and breathing, lifelike 
dinosaurs are the hot ticket. 


THE HURDLE 


The lack of both a multiplayer mode and 
level editing utilities puts the pressure 
on the single-player experience. 


THE HIT 


Trespasser’s look is staggering and the 
gameplay might just hold up. Either way 
you get to shoot dinosaurs. 




You can run but you can’t hide! 

you down and eat you. 

“It’s really about setting up a cool 
place where a bunch of interesting 
things can happen, and letting the 
player be the star. I am really 
against games that try to shove a 
lot of plot down the player’s 
throat,” he said. Taking up the plot 
where the movie left off, the lead 
character Anne is stuck in this fan- 
tastic location (“We decided to use 
a female character a couple weeks 
before Lara Croft was revealed to 
the world,” Blackley revealed. ... 

“We were annoyed.”). She’s sur- 
rounded by the creations of John 
Hammond (the scientist played by 
Sir Richard Attenborough, who also 
supplies the voice for the game). 

Her adventure through the envi- 
ronment is set to be, dare 1 say, a 
unique gaming experience. The 
developers are modeling almost 
every object with real-world prop- 
erties. “The only things that aren’t 
simulated are objects like palm 
fronds, ferns, and such,” Blackley 
said. This has led to Dreamworks 
being able to create real-world 
puzzles, the kind you might do on 
one of those corporate team- 
building exercises: Get across this 


Kill the raptors or they will hunt 


river with a couple of two-by- 
fours, duct tape, rope, and a tin of 
sardines. Since all the barrels, 
boxes, ropes, and two-by-fours 
have their own physical model in 
the environment, they can be 


picked up and arranged in any 
possible way. 

And then there are the 
dinosaurs. How come they look so 
damned real? “Steven Spielberg 
came to see them for the first 
time. Imagine that — Mr. Dinosaur 
looking at this crazy idea I had for 
realtime physically animated 
dinos. I was out-of-my-mind ner- 
vous,” Blackley remembered. 

“We showed a raptor pathfinding 
his way around some crates. He was 
wagging his tail and breathing, and 
he was looking around while he cal- 


Oi! Ever heard of mouthwash? You get so close to the dinos in 
Trespasser that you can see the remains of their last meal. 









Trespasser 


PREUIfUS 



Indoor and outdoor environments provide an arena to kill. 


ciliated his path. Steven thought it 
looked good until we invited him to 
move the obstacles. He did and was 
totally amazed that the animal just 
dealt with it and continued chasing 
him. Because it seemed alive. 
Because it reacted to its world. 

"It’s weird because [the 
dinosaurs] are really unique for 


FIVE QUESTIONS 


SEAMUS BLACKLEY, PROJECT LEADER 
ON TRESPASSER, TURNED HIS UNIQUE 
VIEWPOINT TO THE NOW LEGENDARY 
FIVE QUESTIONS. 


game enemies. Because they’re 
really not enemies. They just live 
on the island. You are the prob- 
'lem. Also, because they’re not 
pre-animated, they are totally 
unpredictable. You might be get- 
ting chased and see your pursuer 
slip and fall to death, or you might 
suddenly look behind you and see 
that he found a better path than 
you and now he’s in front and 
you’re dead!” Blackley said. 

About seven species of dinosaurs 
contain a bunch of individuals and 
tribes, each with their own Al, skin, 
and skeleton. They drink, groom, 
look around, and, of course, can be 


shot. But remember, when the 
ammo runs out, that rifle is its own 
model, so can be turned around and 
used as a club. 

Multiplayer capability certainly 
won’t be part of the original release, 
and will depend on Dreamworks’ 
nod before work on an add-on 
begins. Likewise, there will be no 
mission editor. “We use [3D Studio] 
MAX, with a ton of custom plug-ins, 
scripts, and tools, in addition to a 
separate in-game editor, to put the 
levels together,” Blackley explained. 
“Additionally, when we’re talking 
tens of square kilometers, all with 
unique terrain textures, 50,000 
trees, 10,000 plants, plus buildings, 
dinos, foley, rocks, sticks, water, 
etc., you’ll have to leave level design 
to us, at least for a year or so.” 

The design philosophy is remark- 
ably sound, the graphics and play 
mechanics are realistic and unique. 
But in the end, the real key to Tres- 
passer is that shooting-up dinosaurs 
is all good. 

— ROB SMITH uses duct tape for 
disturbing and unusual tasks. 


DON'T TRESPASS HERE 

Going somewhere uninvited always 
sounds like a good idea, but we’ve put (' 
together a few rases where no ties- ; 

passing means no trespassing. 

LILITH LAIR 

THE DRAW: A gathering of single i j 

women may seem like a great plate to ji 
meet chicks ' 

THE REALITY: After listening to 12 ‘ 'M' 

hours of songs about how men have 1 
done them wrong, the concert-goers . - 

are just looking for some stupid guy to 
say “hey baby” so they can vent (heir j 
aggression through physical violence j 

SEN CLUBS 

THE DRAW: Wild rampant sex, beaut i- ; V, 

fill women, and plenty of girl-on-girl 

action 

THE REALITY: Mostly old, toothless, 
perverted men crowded mound a bed 
to watch the lone woman in the club 
(who, by the way, has been beaten 
unrecognizable by the ugly stick) 

NUDIST COLONY 

THE DRAW: Naked women, volleyball, 
and war ky college high jinks 
THE REALITY: Life isn’t like a USA Up 
All Night movie. Instead of buxom 
blondes you are more likely to find a 
60-yeai -old man with .1 beer belly that 
isn’t quite large enough to cover what J 
needs to be < overed, and his wile who 
will live in yom nightmares for years 
to come . 

THE LOST WORLD 

THE DRAW: It’s the sequel to one of 
the highest grossing movies in his- 
tory, and it’s directed by Steven 
Spielberg ; /,- 

THE REALITY: A plot that wouldn’t 
make the cut as a Roger Corrnan film, 
dialogue that makes “Melrose Place” 
look like Shakespeare, and the 
biggest waste of $8 since O’Doul’s 
introduced its 12-pack special 
“DO YOU THINK SHE’S CUTE?” 

THE DRAW: When your girlfriend asks 
the question, she seems calm and has 
already noted that the girl is pretty 
THE REALITY: There is no right 
answer. Say no and you’re a liar. Say 
yes and you’ll be on the sofa. This is 
one place you don’t want to go 


Q: How much was having a female 
lead character a decisive factor in 
ensuring that you could look at your- 
self In first person? 

A: Do you mean "Were you trying to 
Inspire countless Midwestern teenage 
boys to took down at her boobs and 
masturbate furiously?” Well, I think we 
alt know the answer to that. 

Q: And will she ever see her feet? 

A: We used to show the feet, but again 
there is a BIG difference between a 
super-detailed physical simulation and 
a fun game. 

Q: What’s the most dangerous place 
you’ve ever trespassed? 

A: My ex-glrlfrlend’s diary. 

Q: Who do you most admire In the 
industry? 

A: Dave Perry. He’s soooo handsome. 
Have you seen his website? Seriously? I 
admire the consumer. This is a really 
exciting time to be a gamer. 

Q: On a scale of 1 to 10, how good was 
the Lost World movie? Be honest. 

A: That’s like when your girlfriend asks 
you If she looks fat. It Is a question with 



no answer. 



73 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 






DEVELOPER’S TRACK RECORD 







W 


hat will separate 
Daikatana from 
the first-person 
competition this 
holiday season, according to high- 
profile frontman John Romero, is 
its sheer scope. “We’ve got 80 
monsters, 30 weapons, 32 full- 
sized levels — it’s more than any- 
one has put into a game before,” 
he explained. “There’s nothing like 
it out there.” Whatever you want 
to say about Ion Storm, you can’t 
deny that it’s ambitious. The 
desire to innovate makes the 
Daikatana team tick, resulting in a 
seemingly interminable develop- 
ment cycle, but also one promis- 
ing-looking game. 

Instead of what he feels is a lack 
of variation in enemies and envi- 
ronments, Romero believes 
Daikatana ' s vast amount of con- 
tent will impress gamers. “With 
Quake you have the same mon- 
sters through all the episodes, the 
same weapons — what you got 

INFO BOX 


DEVELOPER ion Storm 

PUBLISHER —> Eidos 

RELEASE DATE October 

3D SUPPORT Direct3D, OpenGL, 

Glide 

INTEREST GAUGE 



INTERESTED EXCITED AROUSED 


THG HYPG 


Daikatana sure has a lot going for it — 
great storyline, environments, character 
design, and new gameplay twists. 


THG HURDLG 


The competition is stiff, and Romero has 
yet to prove that he can make a great 
game without Id behind him. 


THG HIT 


Romero’s understanding of the genre 
and the considerable resources behind 
the game make this a pretty safe bet. 


was different maps, basically,” he 
said. “With Daikatana I wanted to 
make it so that every time you go 
to a new level you should be say- 
ing ‘wow, took at all this new 
stuff.’” And once you make it out 
of an episode, according to 
Romero, everything completely 
changes. “The only constants are 
you, the Daikatana, and your two 
sidekicks — it’s almost like you’re 
playing four games.” 

The sidekicks in question, 
Mikiko and Superfly, are one of 
Daikatana ' s big selling points. If it 
works as planned, it will make the 
single-player experience a differ- 
ent kind of beast. Not just wing- 
men, they will actually drive the 
plot forward. They have their own 
agendas, and offer up advice and 
one-liners from time to time — and 
of course, will mow down their 
share of enemies. However, Ion 


Storm has not yet demonstrated 
the sidekicks working, and some 
(including the PCXL staff) worry 
that the advanced Al required to 
make this effective, rather than 
annoying, can’t be done. 

The sidekicks are just one ele- 
ment that Ion Storm hopes will 
inject some new life into the first- 
person shooter genre. Another is a 
system that assigns experience 


points to attributes, so you can tai- 
lor your character to fit your style 
of play in multiplayer games. By 
boosting your character’s strength, 
for example, you do more damage 
with melee weapons as well as 
receive more health — and your 
character will increase in size. You 
will be able to play as any monster, 
ranging from a quick rat to a lum- 
bering boss, each of which has its 



The number of monsters you’ll fight will be balanced for three 
good guys, so the difficulty will get jacked up if a sidekick bites it. 
















Five Questions 


PCXL ATTEMPTS TO GET IN THE HEAD 
OF ION STORM’S LONG-HAIRED HEAD 
HONCHO, JOHN ROMERO. 

Q: Describe Id’s John Carmack in 
three words. 

A Intense, genius, creative 

Q: What cost more, Dalkatano or the 
Ion Storm offices? 

A Daikatana. Well, maybe the offices. 
I’m not sure, it’s really close. (Price tag 
on the offices: $17 million) 

Q: What’s the best deathmatch game 
of all time? 

A Doom II. It was totally manic, but also 
stealthy. I want to make Daikatantfs 
deathmatch like that — it’s gonna be the 
fastest deathmatch game so far. 

Q: Do you consider the word “under- 
pants” funny? 

A: “Underpants” to me sounds like 
something the British would say. I 
think “tighty whities” is funny. 

Q: Do you think that violent games 
encourage real-life violence? 

A:: Oh, I’m sure that they can, if who- 
ever’s playing the game is mentally 
unstable. You can’t stop people from 
being weird. The thing is, people were 
killing other people long before 
videogames — I don’t think 
videogames are causing a revolution in 
death. I think it’s a healthy outlet. 

own attacks and characteristics. 
Consider it built-in handicapping. 

Attention to detail is this 
game’s strength, but its window of 
opportunity to make the biggest 
impact possible could be closing. 
Romero, however, isn’t worried. “I 
want people to realize that we’ve 
only been in development for 15 
months. The whole thing was 
planned from the beginning to be 
this huge. There’s nothing like this 

— the game is so huge and has so 
much variety. No one’s doing any- 
thing like this.” If gamers agree, 
then Ion Storm may finally have its 
first big hit. 

- ED LEE is PCXL’s official 
minority sidekick. 




hopes to blow away Quake II. 


3 

cr 

n> 



Ancient Greece is one of four environments you’ll visit. 


loyal 

ATTEMPTS AT POLITICAL 


CORRECTNESS: None 


in 



These Ion Storm thugs aren’t too happy with our Dominion review. 


KATO 

(sidekick to the Green 
Hornet) 

ETHNICITY: japanese, 
then Filipino 

SIGNIFICANCE OF NAME: 

japanese, even after 
change of ethnicity 

PORTRAYED AS: A mas- 
ter of martial arts; loyal 

ATTEMPTS AT POLITICAL 
CORRECTNESS: None 

CHEWBACCA 

(sidekick to Han Solo) 

ETHNICITY: Wookie 
SIGNIFICANCE OF NAME: 

It means “stupid" in 
Wookie (OK, we made 
that up) 

PORTRAYED AS: Big, 
hairy, ill-tempered ... and 


loyal 

ATTEMPTS AT POLITICAL 
CORRECTNESS: Seen 
bonding with Ewoks 

ui 
















Free Internet user guide 
Bi-monthly newsletter 


September 9. 1997 
Internet Access Provider 


Tired of waiting for your 
turn to get on the Internet? 


It's your Internet.™ 


www.earthlink.net/quitaol/ 


FOR JUST $19.95 PER MONTH, YOU GET: 

Unlimited Internet usage Complete software for 

Nationwide access Windows and Mac 

Over 1,300 local dialup #'s Personal Start Page M 

Choice of browsers Email 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 


©1998 EarthLink Network, Inc. Trademarks are the property of their 
respective owners. All rights reserved. 


February 8. 1998 
Internet Service Provider 


EarthLink Network 


3177 


ext. 


HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO GET OUT OF AOL FREE. 

Switch to EarthLink and get your email, news, stock quotes, sports scores, entertainment, shopping, chat, and an 
instant messaging program — all the things people like about AOL — without the busy signals, failed connections, junk 
mail, lost mail, and endless commercial messages you’re forced to click NO THANKS to. And we’re still just $ I 9.95 
per month for unlimited access. Playing the Internet game should be fun! So, what are you waiting for? 


I -888-QUIT AOL, 





Reuieus 


Hardcore 


To be honest, it was hard for anybody on the PCXL team to review other 
games once Unreal showed up in the office. Everything else just paled in 
comparison. Luckily, the staff had plenty of excuses to keep playing 
Unreal even after the review was done: writing the Strategy section, 
researching Internet play for out Online Arena section, testing the Cone 
of Tragedy level for the PCXL Disc ... but. hey, we hired some freelancers 
to help us out, so no worries. 

So, in our premier issue, we’ve got two award winners: Unreal is the 
first recipient of our Kilter Game logo, meaning you simply must buy it. 
Executive editor Rob Smith's review should convince you if you've been 
holding out. Scoring a 9. Unreal ' s not perfect - but it's damn near dose. 

In sharp contrast, we also have a Suicide award winner: the unfortu- 
nate Redneck Rampage Rides Again. It's not the worst game ever made, 
but it's damn near close. Don’t buy it. But read Dan Egger’s review any- 
way. because he’s a pretty funny guy. 

This month's batch of reviews includes racing games, shooters, space 
combat, realtime strategy, and gore. None of ’em could touch Unreal. 
and we’re here to tell you why. 


Since we focus our cover- 
age on fast-paced games, 
we don’t get a chance to 
review every PC game that 
comes out. But in just a few 
words, we can tell you 
everything you need to 
know about the games we 
didn’t review and cut out all 
the crap. 


GAME 

INSIGHT I 

INDUSTRY GIANT 

This is one giant we’d 
rather not battle 

PRO BASS FISHING 

If you’re fishing for a 
fun game, don’t get 
this 

FINAL FANTASY VII 

Our fantasies don’t 
include anime guys 
with spiky hair 

THEX-FILES 

Here’s the truth: We’d 
rather watch TV 


UHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN 

Flawless. Perfect. Better than that sex dream 

with Pamela Andet son and Alyssa Milano ' * - 


A true classic. An excellent game 
that is well worth the money 

A great game, taut may feature a few 
minor flaws that are easily overlooked 

A good, solid game that lacks the inspiration 
or vision of a truly great game 

A game that rises above the average due to a 
hook in style or gameplay 

The definition of mediocrity, this game doesn't 
commit any major crime other than being ordinary 

A game that doesn’t exactly suck, but probably 
won’t hold your interest for long 

OK. maybe there's an element of redeeming value 
in this game, but it still sucks 

Very little of interest, this game is 
deeply flawed and should be avoided 

Utter crap — don’t even 
accept this game for free 


KILLER GAME 

Any game f hat receives 

’ i9 “ K ’ iromoi " ,,s (killer yarne! 

orous staring system 

warrants this nifty logo., if you 

see tire PC ACCELERATOR Kilim Game stamp. 

you know H's a game worth buying. Only lire 

true classics deserve this elite status, so 

donT expect to see this symbol often. 


SUICIDE 

If we're going to create a stamp 
for the truly great, then it’s only 
fair to label the unforgivable 
shit as well. It takes an shorn 
triable score of io( 2 to quality 
for the noose around the heck. 
Stay away from these games at a 


CRITICAL ADD-ONS > > 

Whenever a joystick, soundcard, or other computer accoutrement improves a game, 
we'll stick a corresponding logo on the review. And if there’s a checkmark next to 
the add on logo, the improvement is substantial. We include only those devices 
that make the game better; just being compatible isn’t good enough. If you don’t 
see the logo, then that particular add-on doesn't do much for the game. 





GAMEPAD 


FORCE FEEDBACK 


ACCtlt-RATtD > 

This additional rating provides specific 
information on how a game performs on a 
variety of competing 3D chipsets. We test 
games on up to four major 3D cards and 
report back with the true test for any 3D 
accelerator: how it affects the game. We 
base these ratings on graphic enhance- 
ments, ffamerates, and performance to 
give you a good idea of how a game will 
perform on your 3D card. 

(Note: Performance may vary depending on the 
card and the setup of vouf system) 

RATINGS > > 

Our rating scale is a simple 1 to 10 - no ““ u 
decimal points, no obscure percentages, 
just a straight score that gets right to the 
point. Before we score games, they 
undergo countless hours of testing on 
different systems, with different 3D cards 
— our reviewers even play the games 
under the influence of various narcotics. 

In the end we stamp a single score on the 
game, which is essentially a numeric 
value of the game’s worth. We love 
games and always try to look on the 
bright side, but when a pile of steaming 
crap comes in we won’t hold back and 
won't allow our readers to waste their |||yj 
money on said crap. You can count on our j|||| 
reviews for honesty, insight, and maybe Hi 
even a few laughs. 


MUlTIPLAyER 


JOySTICK 


ACCELE-RATED 


CHIPSET 


f . 1 aIBBMBPjMfc I 

1 



1 

E 

3 

No significant 

The card 

This is what 3D 

difference 

provides solid 

cards are all 

from software, 

enhancements 

about. Every 

this game and 

that make 

effect is 

card do not 

the game more 

utilized, and 

justify the 

immersive and 

the smooth 

expenditure 

enjoyable 

framerate 
makes a huge 
gameplay 
difference 


GRAPHICS 


Rendering quality, framerates, and 
special effects all contribute to an 
immersive gaming experience. 


SOUND 


Visceral sound effects and appropri- 
ate music can help make a good 
game great. 


DEPTH 


How often you find yourself playing 
a game, and how long, are good 
indicators of its quality. 


DESIGN 




RATING ( Pf 


* When exactly the adjective “hardcore” made the leap from porn to games is unl<nown 



DEVELOPER •••■> Epic MegaGames 


PUBLISHER ••••:• GT Interactive 


REQUIRED P166, 32MB RAM, 2MB 
video card, 100MB hard drive space 


IDEAL — y Pll 400, 64MB RAM, 
Voodoo 2 (SLI!), 3D audio, 450MB 
hard drive space 



A creation fitting of the name Epic 


MULTIPL.A9ER 


E>_ 

D 


ACCELE-RATEO 


Unreal is the most graphics-inten- 
sive game so far. Voodoo 2 is def- 
initely the way to go. Frankly, it’s 
just not the same game without a 
3D card. It’s playable, but the 
cool effects make the investment 
worthwhile. 

VOODOO 2 


VOODOO I 


RENDITION V2200 

HA 


RIVA 128 

HA 


API SUPPORT -4 3Dfx, Glide 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED - 5 > 
PowerVR 



A 


dmit it, you weren’t 
convinced that 
Unreal would ever 
come out, were 
you? There are lies, 
damn lies and release dates, as 
Benjamin Disraeli once com- 
mented (or was that “statistics”?). 
Supposed release dates have been 
lost in the annals of time (was it 
due a year ago? Two?). But finally, 
Epic has delivered to a market- 
place ravenous for the taste of a 
non -Quake first-person shooter. 
And there’s no doubt that Unreal is 
designed for those with an 
appetite for eye-shattering, ear- 
pounding, pulse-exploding action. 

Let’s start at the beginning with 
what passes for the story. You’re a 
prisoner (for an unexplained rea- 
son) on a transport trip to a Prison 
Moon. It crashes. Everyone dies. 
Except you. 

Emerging from the wreckage, 
you find yourself on a planet inhab- 
ited by the Nali, a four-armed, 
humanoid, and evidently peaceful 
race. Their little slice of utopia has 
been shattered by a conquering 
race of Skaarj. This reptilian-cum- 
humanoid-cum-demonic species 
has imprisoned the Nali (like you 
care). But the conquerors must 
have gotten to this planet some- 
how ... like on a ship (now you 
care) ... that might just get you off 
this hell-hole (now you really care). 
And thus, the story. At least it’s an 
effort, but in the same way that 
people whined about Quake’s lack 
of story, and then didn’t care about 



Environmental effects include being thrown in the air by the 
Titan's stomping. 


Quake II’ s, you’ll soon forget this 
particular diatribe. 

It does manage to serve as an 
unobtrusive backdrop to some of 
the best-looking, cohesive, and jaw- 
droppingly luscious levels yet com- 
mitted to a first-person shooter. 

Understand: Unreal is a very 
good reason to buy a Voodoo 
2-based graphics card. The perfor- 
mance and, most importantly, 
gameplay experience under 
Voodoo 2 is excellent — all those 
amazingly colored environments 


and textures really shine with 
depth. The colored lighting is 
impressive without going to For- 
saken’s gaudy lengths. And the 
monsters have details in color and 
markings that make you believe 
they’re part of a species — higher- 
ranking (and so more deadly) 
Skaarj Berserkers look subtly dif- 
ferent than the basic Skaarj Scout. 

But these supermodel looks 
don’t come cheap (what super- 
model does?). For adequate game- 
play (say, 18 to 30 fps), you’re 



Environments mix futuristic spaceships and 
alien control panels with ... 


. the stately, medieval Nali cultural style. 






-| UNREAL // 




gonna need a P200 with all the 
trimmings. Not only is Unreal a 
videocard hog, but it’ll give your 
brand, spanking new Pll a sweat- 
inducing workout. That’s not good. 
The honored (and monetarily 
loaded) few will smile knowingly at 
their less solvent buddies as the 
reflective textures, awesome water 


rippling details, transparencies, 
and particle smoke trails cause 
jaws to drop, johnny “my machine 
was cutting edge six months ago” 
No-Cash will need to spring for the 
Voodoo 2 at least to be able to 
play in the same company. 

An “advanced” configuration 
option lets you tweak every set- 


ting in minute detail to get the 
best performance. Naturally, 
messing around with all this stuff 
is a complete pain in the ass, but 
for the hardcore wanting to scrape 
every damn frame out of their 
ninja PC, checking the readme file 
in detail is worth the effort. Ship- 
ping without OpenGL and D3D 
support was seriously disappoint- 
ing. Naturally, patches are to fol- 
low — but just one so far. 

Epic also blended a carefully 
scripted music score and occa- 
sionally terrifying sound effects 
into an ear-pleasing package. The 
music manages to be suitably 
upbeat in one instance, and instill 
fear and foreboding the next. As 
doors slam and resonate around 
you (if 3D audio is part of your 
ninja PC setup), winches ^ 


Getting a cache of weapons is never good, it just means you are about to encounter a vicious boss. 


R£UI£ 



Multiplayer 

Unreal ships with 10 original multi- 
player levels, supporting anything 
from two players (DeathFan) to about 
16 in Decki6 or Radikus. The choice of 
skins and models is limited, and mas- 
sively frustrating in the way that your 
choice defaults to the female 1 skin 
every new game. Transporting 
between levels once the time or frag 
limit has been hit sets each player in a 
holding cell — neat touch. 

Favorite servers can be stored eas- 
ily, with shipping options including 
play on Mplayer and Heat. Mplayer’s 
lobby model is great, using a game 
environment to give you access to 
West or East Coast servers, and a 
simple choice of which level you want 
to play. Unfortunately, the gameplay 
on all the Internet servers was terri- 
ble. Weapons would disappear, or 
simply stop working, fatal crashes 
would halt games, and with more 
than a few people on screen at once, 
the lag was dreadful. 

This gives you a chance to try out 
the Botmatches. After hiring the guy 
who created the awesome Quake 
ReaperBots, Epic has developed a 
pretty effective Al-powered death- 
match opponent. Four skill levels are 
available, and up to 10 Bots, each indi- 
vidually customized, can be added to 
any BotGame. Should give you some- 
thing to do while all the Internet code 
is being fixed. 


Try to get a lock on a target 
with the eightball launcher for 
it to home in. And never, ever 
stop running. 


Stick with LAN and Botmatch 
play until the Internet play 
is fixed. 


i 


Of course, all comers fall in 
the presence of PCXL-Blade! 
You’ll find him in an online 
game ... somewhere. 





EH Twenty-two prisoners died attempting escape from Alcatraz (Skaarj were not implicated) 




Epic’s other claim to fame is Jazz Jackrabbit |j 


IB • 



* 

t v 


* 

V. 

y 

V 


V 


K 

I » 
k * 
R » 


A 

SB 

» 

V 

8 * 

58 » 

ft m 
» 

R 

ft 

§ » 

% * 


BO 


* 

» 

_j » 



// UNREAL 



Told you the level design looked good. And 
look for the bookcase switch ... 
1 


In later levels, Skaarj and 
other monsters use armor 
(cheaters). 


The Editor 


So you’ve heard all the hubbub about 
Unreal's Super-Duper, Easy-to-use 
Level Editor™, but up to now you've 
never thought about creating your own 
worlds, so what's the big deal? The big 
deal is that for the fust time ever, an 
elegant and relatively easy to-use game 
editor has been shipped with a fully 3D 
shooter, allowing every Torn, Dick, and 
John Romero to create his own level 
with just a little work. 

To test out just how simple the editor 
Is, we had our resident computer illiter- 
ate, Dan Egger, attempt to create a level 
on his own. Dan (who has difficulty fig- 
uring out how to play Minesweeper) 
was able to create several new levels 
within three hours, with the help of a 
handy tutorial found on www.creat.ive 
cariiage.eom. After a day of hard work 
he showed oft such classic levels as 
Box, BoxWithAHall. and BigEmpty- 
RoomWithLotsofGuns, but more impor- 
tantly the technologically disadvan- 
taged editor had learned the program 
enough to quickly create far bigger and 
more impressive levels than he ever 
thought possible. And trust us, if he can 
do it, so can you. 

BTW. you'll need outside advice as 
Epic isn't supporting the editor with any 
of its own docs. Thanks, guys. 



Get yourself a job ... poten- 
tially. Unofficial docs are avail- 
able online to get you started 
on your way to level design. 


^ screech, monsters growl, and 
it’s oh-so easy to be dragged by 
your sight and sound senses into 
the Nali homeworld. 

Creative level design merely 
adds to this immersion factor. Early 
scripted encounters with the Skaarj 
set the tone perfectly. But it’s a real 
shame that this kind of event never 
happens through the remainder of 
the game. Scripted events can’t be 
overdone — you need the sense of 
being in control — but since this 
instance works so effectively, there 
should have been more examples. 

Although the opening levels are 
far too reminiscent of Quake II 
(albeit with added wide-open out- 
door areas, complete with harm- 
less indigenous rabbits gaily going 
about their business — until inter- 
rupted by your laser blast) things 
do improve. There’s still a huge 
amount of button pushing, lever 
pulling, and switch flipping to be 
done — and it really does get 
repetitive — but the level style is 
varied and inventive enough to 
hold your interest. The SunSpire 
pinnacle offers an amazing view — 
and a tremendous, peaceful free 
fall should you step off the edge. 
The Nali Haven, resplendent with 
Tudor-style wooden buildings, is 
excellent (watch for waking the 
Skaarj from their slumber). That’s 
just to mention two highlights 
among the thirty-some levels that 
follow a path to the getaway ship. 

Caveats: The environment isn’t 
interactive in the Duke Nukem 3D 
sense — no bullet holes on walls, 


scorch marks, breakable lights 
(although boxes and crates can, 
and should, be destroyed). But 
there always seems to be more 
than one way to get around, even 
if passing certain points requires 
specific lever pulls or button 
presses. It offers an artificial sense 
of openness and nonlinearity — 
but a sense, nonetheless. 

Then there are the monsters. 
Most of them are armed with both 
ranged and melee attack options. 
The Skaarj themselves are fast and 
nimble. And they dodge. Monsters 
aren’t supposed to do that. And 
unfortunately, while this appears 
at first to be a quality monster Al at 
work, I suspect a hack. Skaarj (and 
others) always seem to dodge your 
eightball rounds as soon as they’re 
released (not when they’re on their 
way, and therefore visible). So the 
Al is, in many cases, just a reaction 
to your button release — it looks 
good, but it’s a hack. That said, the 
monsters do follow you anywhere 
(and that includes underwater) and 
will retreat when hurt (but won’t 
collect health packs). 

Most of the monsters are also 
deaf. Scene: two patrolling Kraal. 
Shoot one in the head with the 
sniper rifle from a distance. The 
other one continues his patrol. 
Repeat. Monsters only come to 
help their friends when it appears 
to have been scripted, rather than 
in response to them being slaugh- 
tered from a distance. 

Does this matter? Probably not. 
It’s great to see Skaarj opening ^ 




X 




gMMgBggy, 

•r. 1 / 

% tt 


Zoom in with the sniper rifle 
to take the head off an enemy 
with one shot. Cool. 



And with a steady aim ... pop! 
Monster sans head! It’s a chill- 
ing, but satisfying, experience. 



If only Unreal played as good 
as it looks — wait — it does 
play as good as it looks! 




UNREAL // 



Die Pupae scum! Die! Die! Be killed! I hate you little buggers. 


^ doors to chase you, but this 
can also be a failing — the Al can 
be used against the creatures to 
set traps for them. 

Some of those damn creatures 
made me jump even more than the 
Doom monsters (oh high praise). 

The Pupae scuttle along the floor 
before leaping for your throat a la 
Alien’s Face Huggers. God, I hate the 
little bastards. My first encounter 
was a pants-spoiling experience. It 
didn’t get much better. 

Hiding these creatures in barrels 
was a great touch. And in the dark 
you need a seventh sense to avoid 
their speedy jumps. 

Dealing destruction to alien 
hordes is always fun. Epic has con- 
cocted ten weapons, each with a 
secondary fire function that pro- 
vides plenty of options. Some of 
artwork for the weapons is disap- 
pointing (the flak cannon looks too 
similar to the minigun, for exam- 
ple) and overall the weapons look 
and, more importantly, feel like 
water pistols compared to the 
powerfut effects in Quake II. Cer- 
tain functions also work better 
against different creature types — 
learning which is which fast is a 



good way to conserve ammo, 
although it’s generally plentiful on 
the medium difficulty setting. 

Aside from the graphics, the 
most notable thing about Unreal is 
its size. It’s bloody huge. Early lev- 
els are relatively small, giving you 
a chance to learn some of the 
switch puzzle types that profligate 
the later mazes. Others can take 
several hours to complete (and 
then there’s no guarantee that 
you’ll have covered every inch). 
You aren’t rewarded for finding 


secret areas, but there are many 
little places to discover. 

You’ll be glad of the size, 
despite some repetitive puzzle- 
solving styles, as each progressive 
environment becomes more inven- 
tive and detailed. Finally, it boils 
down to one question: Is Unreal 
better than Quake IP. 

Yes, in single player. But Quake 
II multiplayer still rules. 

— ROB SMITH spends his free time 
looking goth in some rock group. 



■ Dead prisoners: not a good sign. 
Watch out for the little secrets, 
like the theater ad. 



GRAPHICS 


Best so far, and likely the best until 
more Unreal - based games appear. 


SOUND 


Unreal’s spooky and absorbing 
soundtrack does the job perfectly. 


DC PTH 


It’s a first-person shooter — what do 
you expect? 


DESIGN 


Repetitive concepts don’t dilute the 
varied textures and environments. 


RATING '-4 


Unreal vs. Real 

UNREAL REAL I UERDICT 


We can whole- 
heartedly say 
that silicon 


STAR WARS WORID WAR II 


Killing storm 
troopers is 
always good 


Cheap labor 
means lower 
prices, and 
who doesn’t 
want that? 


Both these guys 
get more action 
than we’ll ever 
see in our lives 


MIEN AUTOPSY IllfGAl MIENS 


Look at the screens ... 
—> It’s long 

— > Challenging enemies 



--> Awful Internet play 
-■■> High system specs 
-■■> Uninspired weapons 


III 

■m 













lie best-selling 


advent u r e seRies 


eveR is b a c h . Roberta 


Williams b r i n g s go u 


the bD magic of 


King s Quest: Mask 


op E t e r n i t u . E)c ploRe the luoRld 


n I- I) n v p n r x? n n « ir q n p v p p 


it. Seven ui o r l d s , t h r e e 


dimensions, one inde^c Rib able 


adventuRe. 


Coming 

this pall 


0 Sierra 


STUDIOS 


All images are actual gameplay. 

©1998 Sierra On-Line, Inc. ® and/or ™ designate trademarks 
of, or licensed to Sierra On-Line, Inc., Bellevue, WA 98007. 

All rights reserved. 











The strategy mode is a nice 
break from the shooting, but 
adds little to the game. 

ing to the overall product. The real 
depth is the staggering number of 
ground attack, station defense, and 
airborne vehicles that players con- 
trol as the game progresses, all of 
which make Incoming feel like sev- 
eral action games in one. 

As a throwback to classic arcade 
games like Missile Command and 
as a showpiece of the power of 3D 
accelerators, Incoming is right on 
the mark. It’s about one thing and 
one thing alone: blowing stuff up. 
Anyone hoping for more is probably 
reading the wrong magazine. 

-DAN EGGER had a small 
cameo in The Rock as the 
“neat” hairdresser. 


R&yiE 


DEVELOPER •••$• Rage 


PUBLISHER -;> Rage 


REQUIRED •••:<• P133, 16MB RAM, 
3D card, 220MB hard drive space 


IDEAL •••*• P200, 32MB RAM, 

3D sound system, Voodoo 2 card 


The only thing missing is Nicolas Cage 


MULTIF'CABER 


FORCE FEEDBACK 


ACCELE-RATED 


Incoming was built to support 
nearly every conceivable 3D accel- 
erator on the market. It even takes 
advantage of the individual APIs 
for chipsets such as 3Dfx and 
PowerVR. It’s the computer game 
equivalent of an IMAX movie. 

VOODOO 2 




1 2 

3 

VOODOO 1 


1 

3 


RENDITION V2200 


RIVA 128 


API SUPPORT -4 Glide, DirectX 5.0 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED 
Supports almost every 3D card 


learly. Incoming 
would be a Jerry 
Bruckheimer film if it 
were made into a 
movie. This prolific 
producer exploited a successful 
movie-making formula of loud 
music, exciting visuals, and mini- 
mal plot — which seems tailor- 
made for action games like Incom- 
ing. This title’s sound is incredible, 
its 3D accelerated graphics amaz- 
ing, and its storyline never gets in 
the way of things blowing up. The 
pure adrenaline rush in Incoming 
is as exhilarating as being the fea- 
tured driver on this week’s 
episode of “The World’s Most 
Dangerous Police Chases,” and it 
lasts over 65 individual missions 
that span six eye-popping locales. 

Like the typical Bruckheimer 
film, Incoming is lacking in a few 
vital areas that will frustrate those 
wanting strategic depth in their 
shooters. Control, for instance, is 
simple and intuitive, but not as 
responsive as an arcade shooter 
should be. Almost everything a 
player can learn is mastered in the 
first 20 minutes. The game includes 
strategy elements, such as levels in 
which players control their base 
defenses in a realtime, top-down 
mode, but like romance subplots in 
a good action film, they mean noth- 


in land, sea, or air vehicles you can roam through the 
game’s gorgeous terrain and destroy everything in sight. 




Coming Soon? 


CON AIR [1997] 

GAME CONCEPT: 

It’s “smack the 
wacko” as players 
fight for their lives 
on a criminal trans- 
port aircraft full of 
the baddest bad 
guys this side of 
the Philadelphia 
76’ers 

VERDICT: Nut 

cases + guns = 
good game 

DANGEROUS MINDS 
[1995] 

GAME CONCEPT: 

Who gets 
whacked? Players 
must choose from a 
bunch of lovable 
but troubled teens 
to see which one 
dies, so the others 
can learn a valu- 
able lesson 
VERDICT: Lousy 
game material 
here, but the 
thought of a fully 
polygonal Michelle 
Pfieffer is intriguing 




GRAPHICS 


The best explosions in the business. 


SOUND 


Booming special effects and an ear- 
pounding soundtrack. 


DEPTH 


Shakespeare didn’t write this plot. 


DESIGN 


A straightforward arcade shooter, 
pure and simple. 


RATING 


0 



luses 


--> Most 3D accelerators supported 
-> Beautiful graphics and sound 
-■•> Explosions ... lots of ’em 

Minuses 

Not much behind basic concept 
~> Control is a little sloppy 
~> Strategy mode feels underdone 

















DEVELOPER •••* Ingames Interactive 


PUBLISHER ••••:• SegaSoft 


REQUIRED P133, 16MB RAM, 
2MB video card, 3D card, 66MB hard 
drive space 


IDEAL •••■> P200, 32MB RAM, 
Voodoo 2 card 




Exceedingly bloody, surprisingly tasty 


ACCGLG-RATGD 


Either way, this game isn’t going 
to win any awards for its graphics 
or speed, but without a 3D accel- 
erator, it’s pretty unplayable. 

voodoo a 


VOODOO I 


rgndition vaaoo 


RIVA IE8 


API SUPPORT -> Direct3D 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED Ma- 

trox Mystique, Matrox M3D 


Flesh Gaters 



1972 URUGUAYAN 
RUGBY If AM 

After their plane 
crashed in the 
Andes, survivors 
went weeks without 
food and were forced 
to eat their friends 
or starve 

JEFFREY DAHMER 

Convicted in the 
deaths of 17 young 
men and boys whose 
bodies he mutilated 
and cannibalized. 
Dahmer was beaten 
to death by a fellow 
prison inmate in 
1994 and died with a 
mop handle sticking 
out of his eye socket 

ALEXANDER MASLICH 

While on death row in 
Russia for murder, ate 
a fellow inmate’s 
internal organs. He 
tried to make soup out 
of second victim’s 
liver, but failed 

MIKE TYSON 

Disqualified at the 
end of the third round 
of the 1997 WBA 
Heavyweight Champi- 
onship for biting off a 
chunk of Evander 
Holyfield’s ear 



espite its pathetic 
graphics. Flesh 
Feast is actually a 
fairly fun strategic 
action game. 
Granted, much of the game’s fun 
comes from mercilessly slaughter- 
ing zombies with 30+ weapons 
ranging from human limbs to 
shovels to chain saws to uzis. But 
beyond saving your brain from 
becoming zombie lunch you must 
also use it to finish each of the 
fourteen levels of a zombie- 
infested island while keeping 
yourself and fellow humans alive. 

In each area, you’ve got to figure 
out how to escape, which involves 
stuff like breaking open fences with 
crowbars, bombing obstacles, find- 
ing swipe cards, and fixing switches. 
Along the way you encounter multi- 
tudes of zombies, intent on eating 
you — and the other humans — 
alive. You can’t carry an infinite 
number of objects, so you might 
need to drop a weapon or ammo to 
pick up an object that helps solve a 
puzzle, adding another level of strat- 
egy to your gathering. 

Navigation is made easy with an 
onscreen map that helps you 
locate weapons and other 
humans. Two modes of movement 
allow you to either strategically 



Just another typical Monday 
morning at LAX ... 


direct up to four characters in real- 
time (which may well be impossi- 
ble), or fully control the actions of 
a single character. Or you can 
switch back and forth, using Direct 
mode for your killings and Strate- 
gic mode to plan broader tactics. 
Unlike most action games, Flesh 
Feast is actually less fun in multi- 
ptayer mode. You can play death- 
match-style against up to seven 
others, or play one-on-one 
humans vs. zombies — but good 
luck finding someone who wants 
to play as the slow-moving, 
weaponless zombies. 

In terms of gore, Flesh Feast is 
more amusing than stomach-turn- 
ing, and is most graphic in ani- 
mated sequences between levels. 
The zombies’ only weapon is their 
ability to sink their teeth into you 
with a healthy chomp, but like a 


So the blood looks like con- 
fetti — you get the idea. 


scene from Night of the Living 
Dead, they can swarm upon you if 
you’re not paying attention. 
Delightful details accompany each 
kill; for example, you can slice up a 
zombie with a chain saw and the 
upper torso may inch over to you 
on its arms to latch onto your legs. 
Touches like this make Flesh Feast 
more fun than a typical strategy 
game — as well as an entertaining 
action game. 

- CARRIE SHEPHERD hasaper- 
haps-unhealthy love of morbidity. 


GRAPHICS 


Lame minimal-detail terrain is bal- 
anced by gory details in the killings. 


SOUND 


Music gets monotonous quickly, but 
the noshing flesh-eating noise is cool. 


DGPTH 


Keeping other humans alive white 
plotting escape keeps it challenging. 


You can trick zombies to fall in the water and drown, but it’s more 
fun to kill them with diverse weapons. 


-4 Multi-character control is difficult 
~~> Characters move slowly 
■— > Not just mindless killing 



85 


At his mother’s request, Dahmer’s brain was preserved in formaldehyde for future study 










FORCE FEEDBACK 


MULTiPiftyeR 


ACCELE-RATED 


GRAPHICS 


SOUND 


DEPTH 


DESIGN 


The Demon clan’s cruiser is 
quite a sight. 


Check six, pilot, and other 
such aeronautical jargon. 


The detail isn’t there, or the framerate, but the software version 
still plays pretty well. 


RENDITION V2200 


RIVA 128 


API SUPPORT— > Direct3D, Glide 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED—} 

Any 3D card 


new features, giving you time to 
practice. The missions themselves 
follow the familiar course of 
patrols, escort, and bombing runs, 
interspersed with more cerebral 
piloting challenges where if you 
fire, you’re toast, but succeed and 
the branching mission structure 
takes a turn for the better. This 
nonlinearity is welcome, but you’re 
likely to end up just replaying a 
mission until all objectives are 
complete, and then continuing. 

All very familiar. But the graphic 
detail under 3D acceleration is 
excellent. The explosions are big 
and colorful, the realtime video, 
sound effects, and voices of wing- 
men and commanders are clear 
and instructive. A challenging Al 
makes it tough, so it’s good that 
the controls, while expansive, are 
also quickly mastered. 

Multiplayer campaigns on Par- 
allax Online are easy to access 
(although lag is certainly a prob- 
lematic issue). The FRED mission 
editor is effective, but would have 
been better with docs (although 
the online help clearly goes 
through all the elements of setting 
mission objectives, backgrounds, 
wing formations, and waypoints). 
A patch fixed problems that I did- 
n’t encounter in the first place. 

Aside from that familiarity, there’s 
nothing wrong with Freespace at all 


and the multiplayer game is likely to 
keep me coming back. 

— ROB SMITH wants to find out 
if in space, anyone can hear 
him scream. 


Detailed capital ships and great 
explosions are highlights. 


Clear, crisp, and informative voices 
make a refreshing change. 


Enough fun to make you want to 
finish, despite the repetition. 


No surprise that Voodoo 2 perfor- 
mance topped the charts. The 
Glide-powered visuals have that 
smooth quality to the explosions, 
and a well-detailed edge to the 
ships. Occasional choppy scenes 
during hectic dogfights were dis- 
appointing on the Riva, but the in- 
game software rendering gives the 
effects an effective pixelated look. 

VOODOO 2 


Space has been filled with impressive 
ships, but not much originality. 


•} Action is frenetic 

•} Campaign-style multiplayer 

— > Big explosions 


Minuses 


•••> Seen it before 
~7 Significant lag issues 
--> Repetitive mission styles 


DEVELOPER •••<• Volition 


PUBLISHER •••>• Interplay 


REQUIRED •••>• P166, 32MB RAM, 8X 
CD-ROM, 210MB hard drive space 


IDEAL •'}■ Pll 233, 48MB RAM, 16X CD- 
ROM, Voodoo-based accelerator, force 
feedback joystick 


Descent 


A taster to get the juices flowing before Descent 3 


escent without the 
walls. There ya go. 
That pretty much 
sums up Volition’s 
foray outside the 
confines of the claustrophobic 
mines that have made the Descent 
franchise amazingly popular. 

With MicroProse’s franchise- 
extendingX-CO/W: Interceptor 
(reviewed this issue) also hitting 
shelves, as well as Accolade’s 
StarCon, Bethesda’s so-oft- 
delayed-it’s-pathetic Tenth Planet, 
and Interplay’s own Parallax- 
developed Descents in the offing, 
competition for the dark skies 
(with nicely colored nebulas) of 
space is fierce. But Freespace suc- 
ceeds in many ways, most satisfy- 
ingly in the method in which it 
maintains the fun factor without 
seeming repetitive. Which it kinda 
is, if you look closely. 

So you’re a Terran trainee pilot, 
fighting in a war against the Vasu- 
dans. Then the Vasudans are 
attacked by a new, all-conquering 
race named the Shivans. The Ter- 
rans band together with the Vasu- 
dans, thus sharing technology and 
offering up new weapons and 
ships to fire and fly. Toward the 
end (and without spoiling things) a 
fourth ancient civilization comes 
into play before a final confronta- 
tion staves off the Shivan threat to 
good ol’ planet Earth. The end. 

This plot is played out over the 
two-CD set through some 
extremely well-animated cut 
scenes. The quality dips when the 
setting gets a bit too 2001 on you, 
with a bunch of touchy-feely “in 
the beginning things were good, 
and then the bad guys came and it 
wasn’t good any more” scenes. 

Piloting one of four fighters and 
three bombers, each with signifi- 
cantly different handling styles, 
strengths, and weaknesses, equip- 
ping your wing (of up to three other 
wingmen) and arming them with a 
selection of the lasers, subsystem 
disruptors, and missiles is the 
familiar core of this type of shooter. 

Complex heads-up displays can 
be a turnoff, but training introduces 


RATING 

1 

| 


PIUS€S 














DEVELOPER •••* Terminal Reality 
PUBLISHER — * Microsoft 
REQUIRED •••<• P133, 16MB RAM, 
30MB hard drive space 


IDEAL -4 Pll 333, 64MB RAM, 
Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 
Pro, 3D card 



Monster Truck 
Madness £ 




More Madness 


MAO COW DISEASE 

VICTIM: British 
Quarter Pounder 
eaters 

CAUSE: Eating 

beef infected 

with the Mad Cow vims 


Monster trucks without crushed metal are like a hot date — with your sister 


FORCE FEEDBACK 


ACCELE-RATeD 


In perhaps a deliberately engi- 
neered ploy, the native Glide sup- 
port in this game doesn’t clearly 
outshine the Direct3D incarnation. 
The 3Dfx version’s colors have that 
low-contrast, washed-out look it’s 
becoming known for, but it still 
gets a nod because of the notice- 
able increase in framerate. 

VOODOO 2 


VOODOO 

=4 


RENDITION V2200 


RIVA 128 


API SUPPORT Direct3D, Glide 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED •••'■ 
PowerVR, Matrox, Intel i/40, ATI 


lowing through mud 
and gravel, over hills 
and through 
streams, demolish- 
ing everyone and 
everything in your path: That’s 
what monster trucks are all about. 
Unfortunately, that’s not what 
Monster Truck Madness 2 is all 
about. It seems developer Termi- 
nal Reality couldn’t decide whether 
to make MTM2 an arcade racer or 
a sim — it’s not a good example of 
either genre. This insanely fun con- 
cept somehow resulted in a game 
that’s just not that fun. 

On the positive side, the graph- 
ics, particularly the trucks them- 
selves, are solid, and there are 
plenty of camera angles to view 
the action from. The game makes 
things easy with a simple interface 
and control scheme, as well as 
plenty of configuration options — 
typical of a Microsoft product. 

Unfortunately, the physics 
engine is just wrong. Granted, 
monster trucks perform differently 
than other vehicles due to their 
huge wheels and high center of 
gravity, but when trucks with 
wheels the size of Rhode island 
are floating gently in the breeze, 
you’ve got a problem. 

The track design is also a real 
shortcoming: The 11 generic off- 
road courses offer little or no 
excitement; there really isn’t any- 


Monster tracks and professional wrestling - 
himself on the back for this one. 


someone’s slapping 


Multiplayer adds its own twist to 
the whole racing thing, with three 
king of the hill arenas where points 
are scored by staying on top and by 
knocking your opponents off the 
edge. But even this option isn’t 
enough to keep MTM2 from collect- 
ing dust on your shelf before long. 

Monster trucks aren’t just your 
run-of-the-mill off-road vehicles, 
they’re monster trucks — they’re 


GRAPHICS 


Solid, but nothing spectacular — just 
overwhelmingly OK. 


SOUND 


Convincing; ambient sounds are 
particularly well done. 


DEPTH 


Lack of variety in tracks, multiplayer 
fails to excite. 


SYMPTOMS: Loss of vision, nausea 
CURE: None 

BASKET8AU MADNESS 

VICTIM: Latrell Sprewell 
CAUSE: Playing for the Golden 
State Warriors 

SYMPTOM: An uncontrollable urge 
to choke P.j. Cartesimo 
CURE: A killer jump shot, and a 
good lawyer 

REEFED MADNESS 

VICTIM: Troubled youth 
CAUSE: The evil plant, reefer 
SYMPTOMS: Voracious appetite, 
loss of memory, virginity 
CURE: Institutionalization 

MIDNIGHT MADNESS 

VICTIM: Those on their way back 
from a Monster Truck rally 
CAUSE: A late-night sale at Kmart 
SYMPTOM: Slack-jawed fascination 
with Beanie Babies 
CURE: Grab victim by shoulders, 
shake until a nosebleed occurs 


thing here uniquely suited to mon- 
ster trucks. Without steep hills to 
climb and Honda Accords to crush 
under your massive wheels, the 
game gets old real fast. Mud and 
violent crashes — the two corner- 
stones of monster truck racing — 
are decidedly low-key. 



exaggerated, they’re over-the-top. 
Terminal Reality failed to take 
advantage of this, and made a 
game that’s unfocused, tame, and 
just not as fun as it should be. 


— ED LEE lives in his own mad, 
mad, mad, mad world. 



DESIGN 


Tries to be both arcade and sim racer, 
ends up being neither. 



-4 The trucks look pretty good 
-4 Lots of options 
— > Force feedback’s a winner 


Minuses 



A bit more madness could 
have saved this monstrosity. 


Outta my way, there’s a sale 
on Red Man at Wal-Mart! 


-4 Generic track design 
~4 Feels too tame 
■■-> Floaty physics 



Other names for marijuana; reefer, chronic, Mary Jane, hash, bud, spliff, dope, skunk 










DEVELOPER •••*• FASA Interactive 


PUBLISHER •••;> MicroProse 


REQUIRED P133, 16MB RAM, 4X 

CD-ROM, 150MB hard drive space 


IDEAL •••$• P166, 32MB RAM, 6X 
CD-ROM, 550MB hard drive space 



A stomping good time ... in realtime 



ACCGL6-RATGD 


Though it doesn’t support 3D 
accelerator cards, MechComman- 
der still manages to be a great 
game — in 2D! 


D t’s been said that the devil 
is in the details. But when 
FASA Interactive was creat- 
ing MechCommander, his 
infernal highness must 
have been off interviewing Phil 
Flartman’s wife or something. The 
details that define this synthesis 


Giant Robots 

These robots from the big screen did- 
n’t need to be grouped into clans to 
take on the scum of the earth; they 
managed to do it single-handedly. 
Here are a few characters who didn’t 
need no stinkin’ clan, or a comman- 
der, to get the job done. 

EB209 

VENUE: Robocop 

WEAPON OF CHOICE: Twin Gatling 

guns 

PURPOSE: Ronnie Cox’s answer to 
Old Detroit’s crime problem 
RESPONDS TO: Nothing, apparently. 
Shoots junior exec, (so it wasn’t a 
total loss) 

GDRT 

VENUE: The Day the Earth Stood Still 
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Laser beam 
PURPOSE: Sidekick to Klaatu, an 
alien who visits Earth with a message 
of friendship (and gets shot for his 
trouble). Melts Earth’s puny weapons 
RESPONDS TO: “Klaatu borada 
nikto” (among other things) 

GIGANTOR 

VENUE: Cartoon of the same name 
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Er, we’ll get 
back to you on that. (Methinks it was 
mainly his steel fists!) 

PURPOSE: “Ready to fight for right 
against wrong” 

RESPONDS TO: Remote control (used 
by 12-year-old jimmy Sparks) 


of MechWarrior and realtime strat- 
egy are perfectly heavenly. 

MechCommander finds you tak- 
ing part in a campaign to wrest the 
planet Port Arthur from Clan 
Smoke Jaguar. You’re assigned to 
shepherd up to 12 giant mechs or 
support vehicles — split in as 
many as three squads — through 
30 disparate missions set in a 
zoomable isometric game world. 

MicroProse’s first attempt at the 
RTS thang, the non-BattleTech yth 
Legion, had units that looked very 
like mechs and some similar con- 
cepts (like units gaining experience). 
These days, the appearance of each 
new 2D realtime strategy game sets 
off warnings of imminent projectile 
vomiting in my diaphragm. But, right 
now, I can’t imagine putting Mech- 
Commander down. 

There’s no construction and 
none of the conventional RTS 
resource gathering. In truth, it 
feels almost like a role-playing 
game — a sense only reinforced 
by the post-mission advances in 
the four abilities of your surviving 



MechCommander has two views for combat. The zoomed-out 
one has the advantage of offering The Big Picture. 



Artillery is one of the nice little toys you’ll get to use in MechCom- 
mander. Here, alas, it’s being used against you to knock out a bridge. 


MechWarriors and by the sensible 
assessment of what constitutes 
success. If you can’t fulfill a pri- 
mary goal, you’ll have to play the 
mission over, but you can blow off 
the secondary ones and move on. 

The interface is so intuitive that 
I wound up using the well-pre- 
sented 192-page manual only to 
address specific questions. 

The detail that’s been lavished 
on MechCommander is extroardi- 
nary. The mission designers have 
built the game for strategy, and 
artfully avoided the trap to which 
so many RTSs succumb — the cre- 
ation of virtual gauntlets with lim- 
ited options for their resolution. 
The mission briefings are deep and 
intelligent. The graphics appear 
tile-based, but they’re artful. (Dig 
the working cranes and the way 
trucks beneath them bounce on 
their suspension when loaded.) 
You’ll find, delightfully, that your 
mechs leave footprints behind 
them — footprints spread out 
when said mech has been hauling 
ass — I just wish they’d also 
included a furrow behind those 
mechs dragging a damaged leg. 

It’s just a shame that the Al isn’t 
a little better. Now, it’s not bad: I 
found damaged units retreating 
(or doing a persuasive imitation 
thereoO, and, in one mission, 
enemy patrols that spotted my 
units hightailed it back to their 
base and alerted their fellows. 

(The whole concept of units “talk- 
ing” to one another is a nice 
touch.) But, at the same time, a 
smart soldier doesn’t simply make 


a beeline for his intended target, 
advance unsupported against visi- 
bly superior forces, or keep on 
walking through a minefield when 
he discovers he’s in one. 

Except me. This is one glorious 
minefield that I’m going to see all 
the way to the other side. 


- MechWarrior PETER OLAFSON 
doesn’t even have a driver’s 
license. 


GRAPHICS 


Nicely done — especially when 
zoomed-in. 


SOUND 


Solid. It tells you just what you need 
to know. 


DGPTH 


I can see playing this game alt the 
way to the end. 


DG5IGN 


it looks tike a realtime strategy game, 
but, in places, plays more like an RP6. 


RATING 


Pluses 


•> Rich detail in the design 

* Intuitive interface 

> Open structure to missions 

Minuses 





-■> Ai is OK, but not brilliant 
-> Graphics are fine, but slightly broad 
■-> Not enough minuses in the game 












DEVELOPER •••$■ Xatrix 
PUBLISHER ••••:• Id/Activision 
REQUIRED •••>• Full version of Quake, 
P90, 16MB RAM, 100MB hard drive 
space 

IDEAL •* Pll 400, 128MB RAM, Voo- 
doo 2 card, Ti line (Rob’s machine ... 
hmm, no wonder he always wins) 


Quake II Mission Pack: 
The Reckoning 




Hidety ho, neighbor! Eat it, 
Flanders. 


GRAPHICS 


SOUND 


RATING 


The Arsenal 


Screw everything 
else, where are the 
new guns? 

THE PHALANX GUN 

Best described as 
a double-barreled 
rocket launcher. Use- 
less in close 
combat due to its 
slow rate of fire plus 
collateral damage, 
but good for medium- 
range engagements 

THE IONRIPPER •••* 
Very similar to 
UnreaVs razorjack. 
Both fire small glow- 
ing projectiles that 
bounce off walls. 
Great up close; 
somewhat less effec- 
tive at longer range 

THE TRAP *4 Throw 
it down somewhere, 
preferably in the path 
of a pursuing foe, and 
it sucks ’em in and 
spits out a tasty food 
cube so health! 


RENDITION V2200 

■{»»" " 1 


RIVA 128 


API SUPPORT -4 OpenGL 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED • 

Matrox, Intel i740 


•••> Version 3.15’s a winner 
Steep difficulty level 
-■> Phalanx gun’s a nice addition 


O 


Minuses 


-■■■> lonripper looks familiar 

-■■> Graphics a little hard on the eyes 

-if Some missions too confusing 


0 


Pluses 


come addition is autodownload 
support, or being able to grab 
everything you don’t have — skins, 
models, sounds, maps — when you 
connect to a server. You now have 
more control over your jumps when 
in the air, and momentum will keep 
you going in the direction of your 
jump, allowing for longer leaps and 
less frustration. Weapon models 
show what hardware your enemies 
are toting around — nice for those 
rocket launcher vs. blaster con- 
frontations. And what do all the 
above have in common? They come 
standard on Unreal. Hmmm. 

The 18 new single-player mis- 
sions are definitely jacked up in 
difficulty. To make up for it, they 
don’t waste much time giving you 
the big guns. Although well- 
designed overall, there is a fair 
amount of backtracking in the lev- 
els themselves, and just a huge 
amount of switch-pushing/door- 
opening puzzles that grate on the 
nerves. Along the way, you’ll be 
gibbing up new enemies including 
the annoying Gekk, which remind 
me of fleas on crack. 

The pack also ships with seven 
multiplayer maps, which are well 
designed if on the large and 


The phalanx gun and God mode make a great combo. 


New weapons splitting flesh are 
pretty awesome. 


There are a good number of maps, 
and new weapons are always good 


•IMsl 


Good attention to detail that will pro 
long your Quake II experience. 


The only truly new enemy, 
the acid-spitting Gekk, gets 
ion-ripped a new one. 


sprawling side — you won’t be 
wanting to do any one-on-one in 
these. It can’t be denied that 
Quake II still has a visceral, gritty 
satisfaction that just can’t be 
touched by any game, and with 
the mission pack as well as the 
3.15 point release, you’ll be busy 
rediscovering the magic. •jp 


There are some new textures, but 
they’re still brown. 


— ED LEE has never actually seen 
a flea on crack. 


The best looking game on two wheels 


MULTIPLAaep 


ACCELE-RATED 


Voodoo 2 running OpenGL has 
become the standard high-water 
mark for Quake II performance, 
with its sweet framerate and excel- 
lent special effects. Other cards we 
tested did not perform as well 
under this API. 

VOODOO 2 


VOODOO I 


D t’s been nine months since 
Quake II was released, and 
finally, the Godzilla of first- 
person shooters gets an 
expansion pack. The Reck- 
oning’s arrival — on the heels of 
Unreal, the first serious threat to 
the Quake throne — is just in time 
to remind players that Quake II and 
Id are far from dead. Since its timing 
coincides with Id’s 3.15 point 
release, which brings a whole slew 
of improvements, it’s quite clear 
that this is a direct response to 
Unreal — until Quake Arena is 
ready. Those clever little marketers. 

Installing this sucker automati- 
cally updates you to 3.15, if you 
don’t have it already. The most wel- 



Quake II names used by PCXL: PhilHartman, Blade, Q! Stick, Fishdog, Buster, Slash, Spankzilla 

















COMPUTER 

GAMES 

STRATEGY PLUS 


GAMES 

A List 


Sanitarium is a triumph . Irresistably 
compelling. Deeply metaphorical 


Through its deft juggling of mood and story. 
Sanitarium creates one of the most 
compelling, involoving adventures to grace a hard 
drive in a long time 


crame 


‘Sanitarium is easily the most 
disturbing computer game oF 1998 

-PC Game 


If “Jacob s Ladder was reality squared 
Sanitarium is reality cubed” 


The iirst adventure game where your 
emotions play with your intelligence 


A Shockingly 


ADVENTURE 


Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 


Windows 1 ? 1 95 


i-J RLA/Vl rOiyCjt 


Download demo at wv, 


Sanitariuro m is a trademark at American Softworks Corporation. ©BetaSott Games Joint Venture No. 1 ©1997 Adolf Woessner. ASC Games"" is a trademark ot American Softworks 
Corporation.® 1998, Sanitarium is developed by DreamForge Intertainment. Inc, Windows 95 is a registered trademark ol Miciosoft Corporation. The ratings icon is a trademark ol tire Interactive 
Digital Software Association. AH rights reserved 




The alien autopsy video is a fake, and a poorly done one ai 






V. .^...1'-.. 


Bookkeepers invade space. Alien greys succumb to interplanetary audit 


GRAPHICS 


SOUND 


DC PTH 


DESIGN 


Discount your rudder by 5%, 
increase your ascent markup 
by 10%, then amortize your 
velocity over the next 30 clicks. 


All right. That’s the end of it. 
Those Tribbles have to go. 
Look at the mess they made in 
the food processor. 


Almost every resource manage- 
ment activity that has ever been in 
a space flight sim has been 
wedged into Interceptor. Unfortu- 
nately, the slow pace and attention 
to every detail make the game 
colder than a popsicle on Pluto. 

You have to ask: Do would-be 
bookkeepers want to fly combat? 
Do cockpit studs want to add num- 
bers? Did anybody think about 
play consistency in this game? 

The realtime flight episodes 
raise the energy level mightily. 
However, the emphasis on instru- 
ment flight (probably a reality in 
the expanse of space) distances 
combat from the intense action of 
Star Wars, which is almost every 
gamer’s model for space combat. 
Space flight also feels oddly two- 
dimensional in this 3D universe. 

Graphics and sound are ade- 
quate. The 3D acceleration adds 
framerate but does little to the 
game’s textures and lighting 
effects, mainly because you’re 
rarely close enough to another ship 
to appreciate them. Directional 
sound effects aid navigation, 
though not as much as the arrows 
and targets that help clutter an 
already messy heads-up display. 

Multiplayer games are hosted 
by one player on a LAN (up to 
eight players) or the Internet (two, 
maybe more). We’re basically talk- 
ing dogfight here, though LAN 
players can choose to fight in 
teams. Internet play is fairly fluid, 
but the limited number of players 
and options make it a far inferior 
experience to real action games. 

MicroProse apparently sees the 


X-COM series as epic fiction rather 
than a characteristic game design. 
And with the next title in the series 
falling right in the first-person 
shooter category, this trend is con- 
tinuing. However, since it’s backed 
by the Unreal engine, it may fare 
much better than Interceptor, 
which is strictly lost in space. 


- BOB LINDSTROM finds 
accounting and space combat to 
both be based in fiction. 


You’re not going to get any Voodoo 2 
eye burn. 


Very effective use of wingman-spoken 
dialogue and strong audio panning. 


If you love ordering office supplies, 
you’ll be a short flight from heaven. 


Acceie-RATeD 


Interceptor’s graphics are attrac- 
tive, but not overloaded with 
close-up lighting effects. Any rea- 
sonable accelerator should be 
capable of achieving a solid 
framerate. And putting a Voodoo 
2 to this task is like hammering a 
thumbtack with a pneumatic drill. 


*8 


I love the smell of ink-soaked ledgers in the morning. Smells like 
... fiscal responsibility. 


•> Plenty to do 

■--> Internet/LAN play options 
■> Good flight physics model 

Minuses 

-4 Orgasmic fun for spreadsheet lovers 
—> Schizoid action/books split 
•> Lacks action-game immediacy 


<0 


Don't try to figure out what 
this is, just shoot that 
damn thing! 


— 


For a space combat game, 
X-COM could use some 
work on the action aspect. 


DEVELOPER •••❖ MicroProse 
PUBLISHER * MicroProse 
REQUIRED •••>• P133 with 3D card OR 
P166 without 3D card, 16MB RAM, 
85MB hard drive space, sound card 
IDEAL •••* P200, 32MB RAM, 265MB 
hard drive space, Direct3D accelerator 
card 


ould this be the first 
computer game intro 
to open onto a lumpy 
mass that looks like 
an overused cat box? 
Nope, sorry. As the simulated 
microcamera zooms back, we real- 
ize we’ve just been shown an alien 
autopsy at the molecular level. 

Strategy gamers loved the ele- 
gant mix of resource management 
and turn-based, tactical combat 
(not to mention the cattle mutila- 
tions and autopsies) in X-COM: UFO 
Defense. Purists gasped when the 
third chapter , X-COM: Apocalypse, 
punched up the turn-based play 
with fashionable realtime strategy. 

X-COM: Interceptor drifts farther 
yet. Now your number-crunching 
bottom is plopped into the midst of 
realtime flight combat action. And 
rather than treat players to well-bal- 
anced resource management, Inter- 
ceptor's strategic phases require 
you to micromanage every detail of 
interplanetary commerce and 
defense. You’re like a bookkeeper 
who got lost on the way to the 
Arthur Anderson offices. Way lost. 

But baby, oh baby! This is a 
ledger jockey’s dream. You get to 
order weapons and supplies and 
combat vessels. Build and equip 
new bases. Hire, train, and transfer 
personnel. Request technology. 










Haven’t we seen this somewhere before? 



ACCGL€-RAT€D 


Dominion: Storm Over Gift 3 does 
not support hardware accelera- 
tion, but owning a fast video card 
and a Pentium II CPU will help get 
rid of the choppy animation expe- 
rienced on slower machines. 


et’s face it — the real- 
time strategy genre has 
been completely satu- 
rated for over a year 
now, so any new RTS 
game should have something damn 
special if you’re going to shell out 
50 bucks for it. Blizzard’s StarCraft 
and Bungie’s Myth: The Fallen Lords 
proved that a dab of compelling 
gameplay and a hint of originality is 
still possible, but the majority of RTS 
games on store shelves are mere 
clones, determined to cash in on 



Better Off With ... 

Dominion isn't a bad RTS game, but 
several games that came before it are 
better playing, better looking, and 
just plain better. 

TOTfll ANN1HIIATIQN 

THE HOOK: First true 3D RTS game 
WHY IT’S BETTER; Good balance, great 
graphics, and use of 3D for gameplay 

STARCBAH 

THE HOOK: Three unique races 
WHY IT’S BETTER: Blizzard’s classic 
gameplay and a host of unique 
weapons 

COMMAND 6 CONQUER RID AlIRT 

THE HOOK: Mammoth tanks. Tanyas, 
and dictator fantasies realized 
WHY IT’S BETTER: The latest in the 
C&C series offers everything an RTS 
game should have 


this prolonged craze. 

So where does Dominion: Storm 
Over Gift 3 fit in? Although Ion 
Storm’s highly anticipated first 
release is a polished package, it 
doesn’t bring anything unique to 
the table or advance the genre. 

In Dominion, four races are com- 
peting to locate a powerful ancient 
artifact hidden on the third planet of 
the Gift system. The finder of this 
Messiah Device is rewarded with 
unlimited control over the galaxy. 
Good enough reason for a war? 

You choose what race to play — 
the Humans, Darkens, Mercs, or 
the Scorps — but unlike in Star- 
Craft, all sides play relatively the 



As with most RTS games, there are multiple environments such 
as large grasslands, lava-filled wastelands, and barren deserts. 


same. Sure, Merc units are more 
expensive and Darkens have slower 
unit build times, but I failed to 
notice any concrete gameplay dif- 
ferences. Ail structures, personnel, 
and vehicles are the same for each 
side, too, with the exception of the 
Level 2 Multipeds — heavily 
armored personnel carriers. A 
handy fold-out card teaches you 
what is required for unit, structure, 
personnel, infrastructure, and vehi- 
cle production or upgrades — but 
we’ve seen this before. 

When it comes to unit production, 
Dominion features a few nice 
touches, such as the ability to set 
the number of units to produce 
(from one to nine or infinity), and if 
you have the required resources, 
you can build units, buildings, or 
vehicles simultaneously, without 
having to wait for other construction 
to be completed — which we’ve also 
seen before. With a right-mouse 
click, each unit is capable of a num- 
ber of behaviors, including kneel, 
crawl, retreat, scatter, guard, show 
range, and so forth. 

The structures are neat as well, 
with Umbilicals to distribute power, 
various Telepads to send units 
around the map, and bridge con- 
struction (and destruction) being 
an essential part of gameplay. 

Dominion supports up to eight 
players (two colors per race), 
playable over a LAN or over 
Mplayer.com for free. There is also 
custom-made TCP/IP client soft- 
ware to look for, such as 
StormWatcher at www.stormtroop 
ers.com/dominion/stormwatcher . 

It was hard to find many Dominion 
players on either Mplayer.com or 
StormWatcher, but it was only the 
first week of the game’s release. I 
did manage to engage in a two- 
player campaign over 
Mplayer.com, and although it 
proved to be easy to set up and 
fairly lag-free, there’s just nothing 
spectacular about it. 

Despite a few commendable fea- 
tures, there’s not enough to warrant 
Dominion’s purchase with so many 
other solid RTS titles out there — 
such as StarCraft and Total Annihila- 



Dominion’s high-res graphics 
are best on a large monitor. 

tion. Hardcore gamers may enjoy it 
for its level of complexity, but for a 
game so long in development, 
Dominion is a letdown for those 
looking for the next big thing. 


- MARC SALTZMAN is the master 


of his own Dominion. 


GRAPHICS 


Dominion's graphics are simply 
mediocre. 


SOUND 


Sound effects are crisp and audible, 
but don’t expect a killer soundtrack. 


DC PTH 


Without an interactive tutorial, forget 
Dominion if you’re a newbie. 


DGSIGN 


Despite what the box says, all four 
races are not unique enough. 



•■> Many structures, units, vehicles 
-> Entertaining cut-scenes 
■■> Intuitive interface 



■> Lacks anything truly unique 

-)• Difficult, with no in-game tutorial 

7 Less than stellar hi-res graphics 



HI Three gifts we would have liked instead of Dominion : a tie, a haircut, a can of Bud 








\ 



r GT Interactive 
Software 


Blood II The Chosen. Blood, lithlnch and Ihe M" logo are trademarks ol Monolith Productions. 
Inc, .Kirkland. VVA. Tills game uses the LithTech engine and tools developed and licensed bv 
Monolith PiodiicttdTtSflnc Blood II: The Chosen is published and distributed by GT Interactive 
Software Goip. Windows 9b is a. registered trademaik ol the Microsoft Corp. GT is a trademaik 

_ and ihe GTthinttis logo and GT logo are registered trademarks ol GT Interactive Software 

Tbrji. -AH'o^hli iradomaiksare Ihe pio'p^r ol then respective companies 


Available Halloween at your local retailer. Order direct at store, gtinteractivacom or call 1-800-610-GTIS. 


i 

i 

Take bloodshed to the next level with new 
3D engine and fully modeled 3D characters. 



30+ screaming fast, totally immerslue 
and completely bloodsoaked levels. 





Run a savage gauntlet of multiplayer 
mayhem from Teamplay to Level Racing. 





Evel Knievel made 





DEVELOPER ••••:• Criterion Studios 


PUBLISHER -5. UbiSoft 


REQUIRED-? P133, 3Dfx card, 

16MB RAM OR P166 with other 3D card, 
16MB RAM, 1K hard drive space 


IDEAL -? P300, Voodoo 2 card, 
128MB RAM, Freestyle Pro controller, 
145MB hard drive space 


The best looking game on two wheels 


MuiTiPiftaei? 


FORCE FEEDBACK 


ACC6L6-RATGD 


Direct3D performance was a high 
priority for the developers and it 
shows, particularly with an AGP 
setup. Voodoo 2 still gets the 
nod over the Riva 128 (stellar 
Direct3D performance) due to a 
higher framerate. 

voodoo a 


VOODOO I 


RENDITION vaaoo 


RIVA IE8 


API SUPPORT -4 Glide, Direct3D 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED •••? ATI 
Rage Pro, Permedia 2, Intel 740, 
Number Nine 


otorcycles are 
ideally suited to 
racing games — 
they’re incredibly 
light and fast, 
and have gut-wrenching accelera- 
tion and handling — not to men- 
tion insane crashes when both 
bike and rider go flying and 
explode or splatter over the pave- 
ment. It’s a mystery, then, why 
there aren’t more motorcycle rac- 
ing games out there. Criterion 
probably wondered the same 
thing, decided to do something 
about it, and then delivered a 
superior game. 

Redline Racer’s feel is definitely 
on the arcade side, with each track 
designed around a different theme 
— so you’ve got a snow race, a 
beach race, and others that you 
wouldn’t see in a sim racer. There 
are three tracks to start with, and 
seven more that you unlock by 
placing first in the others. You race 
against 15 other bikes in single- 
player mode (which makes for 
some spectacular multibike wipe- 
outs), or against up to seven other 
human opponents through LAN, 
Internet, or modem. 

The game’s even more intense 
played with the new Microsoft 
Freestyle Pro controller, which 
replicates a motorcycle’s handle- 
bar motion, making for the sweet- 
est control possible. 

The game’s primary weakness is 


GveI Highlights 


The action replay mode provides some killer visuals. 


Scratching your nose at 200 
mph is not recommended. 


its depth. Although three difficulty 
levels allow for progressively 
challenging races on the same 
tracks, the tracks don’t require 
repeated playing to learn their 
intricacies and nuances. The rac- 
ing model doesn’t add much 
either — it lacks subtlety and is 
mastered quickly. 

On the plus side, Redline Rac- 
er’s framerate is as smooth as 
glass, and control is tight and 
responsive. I also really liked the 
eye-popping action replay, which 
shows off the flexibility of the 
game’s engine. And gripes aside, 
for my money, it’s still an enter- 
taining motorcycle game. 'Jp 

— In real life, ED LEE drives a 
Civic and thinks professional 
motorcycle racers are insane. 


Playing Redline Racer made us remem- 
ber the great career moments of the cra- 
ziest racer of all time: Evel Knievel. 

CAESAR’S PAIACE, 1968 

OBSTACLE: Fountains in front of Cae- 
sar’s Palace, Las Vegas 
RESULT: Knievel clears jump, but land- 
ing puts him in a 30-day coma 

SNAKE RIVER CANYON, 1974 

OBSTACLE: Snake River Canyon, Idaho 
RESULT: Knievel clears quarter-mile 
jump, but parachute pulls him back, nar- 
rowly missing landing in torrential river 

CHICAGO AMPHITHEATRE, 19/6 

OBSTACLE: A tank full of live sharks 
RESULT: Knievel suffers a concussion 
and two broken arms, cameraman loses 
an eye. Knievel decides to retire 


GRAPHICS 


The engine is as smooth as silk, glass, 
and other very smooth objects. 


SOUND 


Bike sounds are unremarkable; music 
is mediocre. 


DGPTH 


Tracks lack variation, and there 
should be more of ’em. 


DESIGN 


A heavy arcade influence is especially 
evident in the track design. 


RATING 


Pluses 

-> Beautiful graphics 
-■•> Fun, arcade-y feel 
-■•) Action replay 

Minuses 


--> Not enough tracks 
--> Controi/braking model very basic 
Often feels like a technology demo 













Hide your livestock, the redneck boys are back again 


MUlTIPLAytR 


GRAPHICS 


As ugly as a Louisiana High School 
backup cheerleader. 


SOUND 


s in-game comments are repetitive 
d immediately annoying. 


DGPTH 


If you’ve already played Redneck 
Rampage, you’ve seen everything. 


DESIGN 


Uninspired, repetitive, old, crap ... to 
say the least. 


Influential Rednecks 


ANCIENT SUMERIAN 
2IG ZIGGURAT 
EFFECT ON HISTORY: 
Invented beer 
REDNECK TENDEN- 
CIES: After beer’s 
invention, the Sume- 
rian culture shifted 
from hunting/gather- 
ing to farming. Profes- 
sional wrestling was 
also reportedly 
invented around 
this time 

REDNECK RATING: 

***** Invented beer — 
’nuff said 

ABE LINCOLN 

EFFECT ON HISTORY: 
Helped end the Civil 
War, united America 
REDNECK TENDEN- 
CIES: Born in a log 
cabin, wrote on a 
shovel, and 
sported unsightly 
facial hair 
REDNECK RATING: 

* Not one use of the 
word “y’all” in the Get- 
tysburg Address 
JEO CLAMPETT 
EFFECT ON HISTORY: 
Helped integrate red- 
necks into modem 
culture with “The Bev- 
erly Hillbillies” 
REDNECK TENDEN- 
CIES: Used the phrase 
“oh golly” quite often 
REDNECK RATING: 

** Sold out his true 
roots for a hit TV show 
Bill CLINTON 

EFFECT ON HISTORY: 
Helped make philan- 
dering rednecks 
acceptable in 
modern culture 
REDNECK TENDEN- 
CIES: Fond of women 
with big hair 
REDNECK RATING: 

*** Real rednecks 
don’t jog, but they do 
love doughnuts 


If only the Harleys could drive 
you out of this stupid game. 


Fighting off jackalopes with TNT-stuffed chickens is apparently the 
pinnacle of humor in some parts of the country. Avoid these parts. 


Redneck Rampage game. Even the 
newly included motorcycles and 
swamp buggies add little to the 
action and won’t convince anyone to 
turn off “jerry Springer” to play it. 

Redneck Rampage Rides Again 
feels too much like a cheap cash-in 
and not enough like a brand-new 
title. If you really want some red- 
neck action, save your money for 
tickets to Truckzilla, or at least wait 
until the next Merle Haggard con- 
cert comes to town. ^ 

— DAN EGGER can often be spot- 
ted in the flannel section of 
menswearat his local Wal-Mart. 


Even big-breasted cheerlead- 
ers can’t save Redneck 2. 


-A Explosive chicken arrows 
-4 The game ends, eventually 


Minuses 

4 Poorly executed concept 

— > Outdated graphics 
— > Doesn’t end quickly enough 


e 


DEVELOPER Xatrix 
PUBLISHER-;- Interplay 
REQUIRED —•> 486 DX66, 16MB RAM, 
220MB hard drive space 


IDEAL -J- P166, 32MB RAM, 
beer holder 


ACCELE-RATED 


Who makes a 3D shooter without 
any 3D card support? This crimi- 
nal omission alone is enough to 
justify the game’s pitiful score. 


on’t get me wrong, I 
like a good redneck 
joke as much as the 
next guy. I was look- 
ing forward to a 
healthy dose of flannel wearin’, beer 
swiggin’, sister-as-wife redneck 
gags, but Redneck Rampage Rides 
Again was a major disappointment. 

This game makes it quite appar- 
ent that the Redneck franchise is a 
one-trick pony that is well past its 
prime. It starts out with the two 
lead rednecks crash-landing a 
UFO, and sets them off on an 
adventure through 14 new but 
undeniably bland levels. And to 
make matters worse, just about 
every joke is a rehash of gags that 
were used in the first title and 
add-on pack. 

With only the most minor of 
technological advancements on its 
Build engine graphics (the tech- 
nology behind Duke Nukem 3D 
and countless other clones), this 
unnecessary sequel will impress 
no one with its story or visuals. 
Other Build engine games such as 
Blood and Shadow Warrior looked 
better, played better, and were 
funnier than this when they 
debuted more than a year ago. In 
comparison to just about any 
other shooter on the market, Red- 
neck Rampage Rides Again looks 
as out-of-date as the eight-track 
tape deck that seems to be in 
every other Arkansas pickup truck. 

We all know that looks aren’t 
everything, but in addition to its 
substandard graphics and storyline, 
this title features practically the 
same gameplay as the previous 


Beer first came to America on the Mayflower — mmmm ... beer 









24 IlEu; W AYS 

... * to Tell yovr frteiids 

HOW mVCH YOU LOV E THEM. 




Nkw Enemies 

Get ready to f ace the toughest horde of Stroggs, 

STRAIGHT FROM THE BIO-VATS. THE STAI.KER, TURRETS, 

Daedalus, Medic Commander, Carrier and the 
Queen Bitch herself, the Black Widow. 


14 Entirely new levels and 

10 NEW DEATHMATCH LEVELS 

Brand new real estate with the same dynamic sense of reality 
and dramatic visuals as Quake IL These new environments 

WILL CHALLENGE EVEN THE BIGGEST QUAKE II AFICIONADO. 


New Power-ups 

Tag ‘km and bag 'em. Dkathmatch Specific Power-ups: 
the Vengeance Sphere, Hunter Sphere, and Anti-matter 
Bomb. With everything that we've cooked up for 

YOU HERE, you’re SURE TO ANNIHILATE ANYONE OR 
ANYTHING FOOLISH ENOUGH TO CALL YOU FOE. 


Nkw Weapons 

The Chainsaw, ETE Rifle, Disruptor, and 
Plasma beam, if you can’t get the job done 

WITH THESE BABIES, ITS TIME TO GO BACK TO BASIC. 


Chain Saw 

NO NEED FOR SOME FANCY WEAPON WHEN THE ENF.MY S JUST 
SPITTING DISTANCE AWAY FROM YOU. WHEN YOU NEED A LITTLE 
ELBOW ROOM, THIS BABY, CLEARS A CROWD OUT IN A HURRY. 


GREAT PERFORMANCE WITH 


Plasma Bkam 

With this hi-tech laser there’s no need to worry 

ABOUT SHRAPNEL BACKFIRING ON YOU. THIS ONE REALLY 
GETS TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER - WHATEVER IT MAY BE 


ETf Rin k 

~l Explosive Tipped foECHETTE Rifle. Pierces through 

ARMOR AND BODY EFFORTLESSLY, THEN GOES OFF EXPLOSIVELY. 

Now you see them, how you don't. 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 






You’ll Be Hooked! 


Now available at a store near you ! 



Award Winning, A Wide Selection of Three 18 Hole Courses in TrackSwing" Technology: 

Arcade Style Game Play Multiplayer Options a Variety of Environments Natural Mouse Swing 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 



BASEBALL HOCKEY BASKETBALL FOOTBALL 


_J 


mmiumm. 




i 


■ 





w 


— 


hen a team 
rises to the 
occasion for an 
important 
moment, they 
are said to be taking their game to 
a new level. With Play By Play, we 
are doing exactly that. Since the 
advent of 3D accelerators, PC 
sports games have dramatically 
changed for the better. To meet 
the needs of the growing number 
of sports fans who have tossed 
out their consoles for better 
games, we have created the only 
dedicated sports section in a PC 
gaming magazine. 

In this section you will find the 
most in-depth look at all your 
favorite sports games, and 
detailed previews of the biggest 
games still on the way. We will 
provide an unflinching, straight- 
forward, and always irreverent 
look at the games you want to 
play most, letting you know which 
titles make the most of your sys- 
tem, and which titles are best left 
on your father’s Tandy computer. 

Like you, we are diehard sports 
fans and have high standards for 
the games we play. Because of 
that, we have taken an innovative 
(and long overdue) approach to 
reviews. Each game will be judged 
in comparison to others in the 
same sport through a standings 
system. On the left is the result of 
those head-to-head match-ups, 
and on the next few pages are the 
comparisons in action. 



3 

* 

a 

r- 

m 

I 

TO 

</> 

n> 

*0 

ro 

3 

cr 

<T> 


Curling is actually referred to as “the roaring game’ 







PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



DEVELOPER -i> WizBang! 

PUBLISHER — ) Microsoft 
REQUIRED P133, 16MB RAM, 

45MB hard drive space, 3D accelerator 
card 

IDEAL •••$■ P200, 32MB RAM, Voodoo 2 
card, gamepad 




The polygon-heavy graphics in 
Microsoft Baseball 3D demand a 
3D accelerator; the game even 
requires one to play. Because it is 
a Microsoft game, this title sup- 
ports only Direct3D and no other 
card-specific APIs. 



VOODOO 2 



2 3 


VOODOO I 

1 2 3 


RENDITION V2200 



I 2 3 


RIVA 128 



I 2 3 


API SUPPORT-) Direct3D 
OTHER CARDS SUPPORTED -) 

Direct3D compatible cards only 



Overexposure 

To make sports games authentic, 
many developers replace the numer- 
ous billboards that fill up a major 
league stadium with either fake ads 
or real, paid sponsorships. Microsoft 
apparently will have none of that, and 
has instead made sure to let everyone 
know that Baseball 3D is a Microsoft 
product by placing ads for other 
Microsoft games all over its stadium. 

We think that the company’s 
efforts may not have been enough to 
catch our attention, so we’ve sug- 
gested a few ways that it can help 
promote other Microsoft products. 

Bitmap all player faces to look like 
Bill Gates (Cheat codes could even 
bring a pie to the face) 


Make the players freeze-up 



every 30 minutes to simulate 
Windows 98 

Buy MLB, bury baseball technol- 
ogy, and make Microsoft Cricket 99 
the industry standard 

Have players hold Microsoft Force 
Feedback Pro joysticks instead 
of bats 



Cal Ripken looks fine in this 
side view ... 


... but from the back he looks 
more like John Kruk. 



what is going on, and you have a 
mess of a baseball game. 

Even the game’s strengths 
(smooth 3D players, excellent 
ground textures, variety of 
sounds) contain weaknesses. The 
players’ uniforms look washed out 
and muted (on a Voodoo card) — 
nowhere near real representations 
of the actual jerseys — and even 
though the ground textures are 
excellent, slight bugs, such as run- 
ners who don’t quite stand on 
base, overshadow any benefit 
those graphics may bring. Sound 
quality is another problem: Cer- 
tain noises (such as the seventh- 
inning stretch music) dramatically 
rise above everything else, driving 
you to turn your speaker volume 
down in fear of another outburst. 

Hardcore fans will also be frus- 
trated by the game’s lack of 
options (like a home run derby for 


one), which they’ve come to 
expect from baseball games. In 
another software field, Microsoft 
would be able to release this 
game, call it the standard, and 
force everyone to buy a flawed 
title, but thankfully in the game 
arena players have better choices 
and can easily avoid this one. ^ 


ust because the mega- 
conglomerate Microsoft 
Corporation dominates 
nearly every corner of 
the software market 
doesn’t mean it’s going to do the 
same when it comes to games. 
Take for instance Microsoft Base- 
ball 3D, a game that looks, feels, 
and plays like it was made by a 
group of oily-haired executives. 
Sure it has the requisite snazzy 
graphics, high-powered sound, 
and detailed player models that 
buyers demand, but when com- 
pared to a hardcore favorite like 
3 DO’s High Heat Baseball, this 
effort is positively disheartening. 

What’s so unsatisfactory for 
baseball fans is that at times it’s 
virtually unplayable. Camera 
changes make players reorient 
themselves at the most crucial 
moments, and the ball is simply 
too tiny to follow. Baseball 3D has 
enough gameplay flaws to frus- 
trate the most saintly of PC ball 
players — just attempting to play 
through one torturous nine-inning 
affair is punishment enough. Add 
unrealistic ball movements from 
the pitches, a flawed batting 
meter (which is neither responsive 
enough nor defined clearly 
enough for smooth play), as well 
as the inevitable confusion about 


— DAN EGGER used Microsoft 


Word to write this review. 


GRAPHICS 


The ground textures look nice, but the 
rest is bland. 


SOUND 


Crowd sounds are great, but the game 
sounds are awful. 


CONTROL 


The camera switches the second you 
get the ball, making simple grounders 
far too difficult to field. 


REALISM 


In real baseball, the ball is bigger than 
a pea. 


RATING 


© Pluses 



— •> Realistic throwing and 
running speeds 
— f Recognizable players 
— > 3D crowd sounds 


Minuses 



Can you see the ball in this picture? At full speed, we had a 
hard time finding it. 


— > Unintuitive managerial options 
Poorly defined batting meter 
— > Unrealistic ball movement 
on pitches 









r 





GRAPHICS 

SOUND 

CONTROL 

REALISM 

FINAL 



vs. Hard Ball B 


EA’s Triple Play 99 takes on its first 
competitor in Head To Head 
in a direct match-up%iti 
HardBall 6. Triple Play 99 domi- 
nated the face-off in nearly every 
category that mattered. 



High Heat vs. 
Microsoft Baseball 3B 


le fan favorite faces off against 
Microsoft's first^shot at PC 
baseball. 




In its second competition, EA’s 
Triple Play 99 Jakes on a 
baseball rookie in High Heat. 
Developed by Studio 3DO’s team 
.366, this title puts the play before 
presentation and focuses on the heat 
of the battle. 



HarBBall B vs. 
Microsoft Baseball 3B 


It’s another old timer facing a 
rookie title in a battle to 
keep out of last place. 



Triple Play 3B vs. 
Microsoft Baseball 3 3 

The big boys of software publishing 
face off in a battle of 
big-bucks baseball games. 


High Heat vs. 
HarBBall B 

Since High Heat defeated TP99, 
which in turn defeated 
HardBall 6, the result in-tbis 
match-up is a foregone conclusion? 



EDGE 

TRIPLE PLAY 99 

Both games feature 3D 
acceleration, but the 
motion-captured play- 
ers in TP99 look far 
more realistic than their 
HardBall 6 
counterparts. 



WINNER 
BASEBALL 3D 

It’s 3D against 2D and 
High Heat just can’t 
compete. 


CLEAR WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

Flat sprite players vs. 
3D polygonal players. 
Which do you think 
wins? 


EDGE 

HARDBALL 6 

Baseball 3D has a 
smoother engine, but 
HardBall 6 just looks 
and moves more like a 
baseball game. 



CLEAR WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

Presentation means 
something, and Base- 
ball 3D has almost none 
to speak of. 


EDGE 

HARDBALL 6 

Rat sprite players just 
can’t compare to 3D 
polygonal characters. 


CLEAR WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

No contest here. Hard- 
Ball loses for its poor 
game sounds, crowd 
noises, and its (pause) 
incredibly (pause) halt- 
ing (pause) play 
(pause) by (pause) play 
(pause) commentary. 


EDGE 

HIGH HEAT 

Another close match, 
but High Heat wins it 
because of its play-by- 
play and better in-game 
sounds. 


CLEAR WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

Triple Play wins again, 
thanks to its near flaw- 
less color commentary, 
game sounds, and 
stadium noise. 


EDGE 

BASEBALL 3D 

Microsoft gets the nod 
here for its rousing 
crowd noises. 


WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

It’s the commentary 
and game sounds that 
win it for TP99, but 
Microsoft makes a 
strong statement with 
its crowd sounds. 


EDGE 

HIGH HEAT 

A close match, but High 
Heat wins it because of 
its smoother play-by- 
play and better in-game 
sounds. 


EDGE 

TRIPLE PLAY 99 

Despite its sluggish 
controls, TP99' s better- 
designed camera sys- 
tem results in fewer 
moments of confusion 
while camera views 
change. 


CLEAR WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

Control is where High 
Heat shines and Base- 
ball 3D is at its worse, 
so this battle is easily 
decided. 


CLEAR WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

The more responsive 
fielders in High Heat 
make defense as fun to 
play as offense. 


EDGE 

HARDBALL 6 

Both titles have unfor- 
givable camera switch- 
ing problems in the 
middle of hits that 
affect fielding, but 
HardBall gets the nod 
— barely. 


CLEAR WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

The awkward camera 
changes in Baseball 3D 
keep this game from 
even coming close. 


CLEAR WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

Fewer camera problems 
and faster response 
times make High Heat 
the better controlling 
title. 


EDGE 

HARDBALL 6 

Accolade’s title includes 
better defensive Al, and 
slightly smarter base 
runners. 


CLEAR WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

Better Al and more real- 
istic pitching win this 
one for High Heat. 


WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

High Heat packs some 
wicked defensive Al, 
control, and accurate 
ratings. 


EDGE 

HARDBALL 6 

Both titles have realism 
problems, but HardBall 
has a little better feel to 
win this category, but 
not by much. 


WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

TP99 just feels more 
like a real baseball 
game. 


EDGE 

HIGH HEAT 

Two solid computer Als, 
but High Heat wins 
because the in-game 
action is faster and 
more reflective of real 
baseball. 


WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

Triple Play 99 
(1-0) outslugs an 
undermanned 
HardBall 6 (1-1) 
in an easy win. 


WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

The battle was 
never in doubt 
as High Heat 
(1-0) absolutely 
destroys 
Microsoft Base- 
ball 3D (0-1) in a 
laugher. 


WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

High Heat (2-0) 
proves to be a 
savvy rookie as 
it nips Triple 
Play 99 (1-1) in a 
true battle of 
gameplay vs. 
glitz. 


WINNER 
HARDBALL 6 

HardBall 6 (1-1) 
sneaks past 
Microsoft Base- 
ball 3D (0-2) 
simply because 
it is playable. 


WINNER 
TRIPLE PLAY 99 

No question for 
Triple Play 99 
(2-1) here, as it 
easily romps 
Microsoft’s 
clunky Baseball 
3 D (0-3). 


WINNER 
HIGH HEAT 

The veteran 
HardBall 6 (1-2) 
suffered another 
disappointing 
loss to the cur- 
rent baseball 
king High Heat 
(3-0). . 


103 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 






GRAPHICS 

SOUND 

CONTROL 

REALISM 

FINAL 

CLEAR WINNER 

CLEAR WINNER 

CLEAR WINNER 

CLEAR WINNER 

WINNER 

WORLD CUP 98 

WORLD CUP 98 

WORLD CUP 98 

WORLD CUP 98 

WORLD CUP 98 

The player models 

Better commentary and 

Its sheer variety of con- 

Fox Sports Soccer 99 is 

World Cup 98 

alone make World Cup 

crowd sounds, however 

trol options make World 

an arcade-type game 

(1-0) sweeps Fox 

a far better-looking title 
r .„ 

the overuse of Chum- 
bawumba’s 
“Tubthumper” anthem 
almost made us poke 
out our eardrums. 

Cup the easy choice. 

that focuses more on 
speed than on realism. 

Sports Soccer 99 
(0-1) with the 
outcome never 
in doubt. 

J 


Worm Eu p9S 
iis. fox Sports Soccer 99 

ffsjhejpngtime title 
holder from Electronic 
Arts facing off against the, 
scrappy new challenger from Fox. 


DEVELOPER *4 Gremlin Interactive 


PUBLISHER ••••:• Fox Sports 


REQUIRED -4 P120, 16MB RAM, 
87MB hard drive space 


IDEAL — Pi66, Voodoo 2 card, 32MB RAM, 
gamepad, 87MB hard drive space 


RENDITION VE200 


Don’t worry about strategy 
here, just aim for the goal. 


ACCELE-RATGD 


VOODOO 2 


Simulation? We don’t need no stinkin’ sim 


rankly it must suck to 
be a developer some- 
times. Imagine being in 
Fox’s shoes. You’ve 
decided to publish your 
first soccer title, only to have it com- 
pete directly with World Cup 98. Your 
title, though not without its strengths, 
is in danger of being completely over- 
shadowed by this competition. 

Two key problems are that your 
graphics are nowhere near the same 
quality of World Cup 98’ s, and the 
game sounds simply cannot compete 
with your rival’s. Even though you’ve 
taken full advantage of 3D accelera- 
tion and added decent sound clips, 
they both pale in comparison. 

You offer exciting arcade game- 
play, but fanatic soccer fans don’t 
want to be able to dribble all the way 


down the pitch and shoot at will. That 
kind of play is for hockey, and trust 
me, not just the hardcore fans will 
complain about this. 

These problems will make many 
overlook the tight control and 
smooth play speed that you’ve 
included in your game, but it won’t 
make them overlook the blocky 
player models that they control. 

A few will prefer your title because 
it plays faster and is more arcadelike 
than the competition, but in the end, 
most fans will ask themselves “Why 
play this game when I could be play- 
ing FIFA ?” And you’ll be asking your- 
self, “What do we have to do next year 
to compete?” "9 

— DAN EGGER kicked Rob’s cat just 
cuz he’s mean. 


iSiLl ICIS — 

Players look and move like cheap 
marionettes. 


SOUND 


Decent commentary, but lackluster 
crowd sounds. 


CONTROL 


Tight and fast, everything an arcade- 
style game should be. 


REALISM 


Plays like an arcade sports title, so 
realism goes out the window. 


RATING 


(^) Pluses 

— > Fastgameplay 
Plenty of teams 

Minuses 

— > Easy goals by defenders 
—> Unrealistic Al 


m 


a 


DEVELOPER *4 EA Sports 


PUBLISHER -4 EA Sports 


REQUIRED -4 Pioo, 16MB RAM, 
20MB hard drive space 


IDEAL *4 P166, Voodoo 2 card, 32MB RAM, 
gamepad, 20MB hard drive space 


ACCELE-RATED 



VOODOO 2 



s 


RIVA 128 ZX 

1 2 B 


Amazing realism. England on 
its way to lifting the Cup. 


Hey America, this is the world’s greatest sport 


hirty-two nations. Eight 
groups. Sixty-four 
matches. One winner. 

By the time you read 
this, France 98 will be 
over. But during its six weeks, half 
the population of the globe will have 
tuned in to cheer on their heroes. 
And you’re not going to get a fairer 
recreation of the soccer brilliance on 
display than in EA Sports’ update to 
FIFA 98: Road to the World Cup. 

World Cup 98 is essentially FIFA: 
RTWC with fewer teams (just the 32 
participants), but accurate recre- 
ations of the French stadiums, 
enhanced gameplay features, and 
improved Al score on most counts. 
Goalkeepers are definitely better 
than in RTWC. On-the-fly play-calling 
is a great addition (examples include 


calling through balls, double-team- 
ing attackers, playing a quick one- 
two — that’s all football — ahem — 
soccer jargon, by the way) that 
makes the game more cerebral white 
maintaining the on-field action. 

The difficulty level is enhanced 
and a number of special moves (and 
their associated animations) have 
been added. Control does seem a lit- 
tle sluggish at times, but the quick 
access to special moves is great. 

Bonuses include being able to 
replay “classic" World Cup encoun- 
ters (such as games from 1934, 
played in black and white) as a 
reward for winning the World Cup. 
The best soccer sim by a mile. 

— ROB SMITH kicked the cat because 
England didn’t win the World Cup. 


GRAPHICS 


Superb 3D accelerated fields, weather 
effects, players, and animations. 


SOUND 


Chants (without expletives, damn!) 
and atmospheric effects do the job. 


CONTROL 


Quick calling plays and pulling off spe- 
cial moves is ideal with a gamepad. 


REALISM 


Nothing else comes close. It’s like 
you’re watching a game on TV. 


RATING 1 ^ 


o 


Pluses 


-4 Gorgeous graphics 
— > No hooliganism 

Minuses 

-•-> Only World Cup teams 
■--> No hooliganism 















Appeal: Gamers looking for the fastest 
most reasonably priced gaming system 

■Computer Gaming World, July, 1998 


■PC Gamer. January, 1998 


"The Area51 set new records in our CPU/Motherboard 
and hard drive tests, completely crushing anything 
we've seen to date" 

- BOOT Magazine. July. 1993 


PRODUCT 


Intel Pentium II 450MHz MMX 
Intel 440BX Motherboard 512KB 
AAVID Cooling System 
128MB SDRAM (PC-100) 

3.5" Floppy Drive 
Hercules Terminator 2x/i w/8MB 
with Intel i740 Chipset 2X AGP 
Dual-Diamond Monster Voodoo M's 
24MB (Scan-Line Interleave Mode) 
11.5GB Ultra-ATA Hard Drive 
Iomega Internal Zip Drive 100MB 
Diamond Monster Sound MX200 
SoundBlaster 16 PnP 
Cambridge Soundworks Microworks 
Subwoofer & Speaker System 
Hitachi 2nd Generation DVD Player 
ATX Full-Tower Case w/300 Watt 
Power Supply (Dual-Fans) 

KoolMaxx Video Cooling System 
104-Enhanced Keyboard 
Microsoft 2-Button Mouse 
US Robotics 56 V.90 Fax/Modem 
Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro 
Microsoft Sidewinder Gamepad 
Windows '98 Operating System 
Latest Drivers Installed 
Free Installation & Configuration of 
Favorite Games 

PRICE: $3.E99.UU 


" The HIVE-MIND" 

Intel Pentium II 400MHz MMX 
Intel 440BX Motherboard 512KB 
AAVID Cooling System 
64MB SDRAM (PC-100) 

3.5" Floppy Drive 
Hercules Terminator 2x/i w/8MB 
with Intel i740 Chipset 2X AGP 
Diamond Monster Voodoo II w/12MB 
11.5GB Ultra-ATA Hard Drive 
SoundBlaster AWE 64 PnP 
Altec Lansing ACS48 Powercube 
Subwoofer & Speaker System 
Toshiba 32X CD-ROM 
ATX Full-Tower Case w/300 Watt 
Power Supply (Dual-Fans) 

KoolMaxx Video Cooling System 
104-Enhanced Keyboard 
Microsoft 2-Button Mouse 
Diamond Supra 56K V.90 Fax/Modem 
Microsoft Sidewinder Precision Pro 
Windows '98 Operating System 
Latest Drivers Installed 
Free Installation & Configuration of 
Favorite Games 

PRICE: $£.E99.UU 


" The EREY" 

Intel Pentium II 300MHz MMX 
Intel 440BX Motherboard 512KB 
AAVID Cooling System 
64MB SDRAM (PC-100) 

3.5" Floppy Drive 
Hercules Terminator 2x/i w/8MB 
with Intel i740 Chipset 2X AGP 
Diamond Monster Voodoo II w/8MB 
6.4GB Ultra-ATA Hard Drive 
SoundBlaster AWE 64 PnP 
Altec Lansing ACS45 
Subwoofer & Speaker System 
Toshiba 32X CD-ROM 
ATX Full-Tower Case w/300 Watt 
Power Supply (Dual-Fans) 

KoolMaxx Video Cooling System 
104-Enhanced Keyboard 
Microsoft 2-Button Mouse 
Diamond Supra 56K V.90 Fax/Modem 
Windows '98 Operating System 
Latest Drivers Installed 
Free Installation & Configuration of 
Favorite Games 

PRICE: $1,899.00 


NEW! INTENSOR GAMINE CHAIR 

arid: $ pgB.On l substitute speaker*) 

Quality Monitors 

17" ViewSonic V773 .26DP add: $325.00 
1 9” ViewSonic V95 .26DP add: $595.00 
21" ViewSonic P810 .25DP add: $1,050.00 


All E 


Customize your own dream machine 


3390 Smit hvvi>sl Ir'Jl Street Ml.tml, Florida 33I8B 


Product nonius usud in this |iulilii:atiun ore trademarks of their companies. 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 


pl Ay ey PLAy 


© © © © 



DEVELOPER-* Electronic Arts 
PUBLISHER ••* Electronic Arts 

RELEASE DATE -* September 


THE HYPE With the right hardware, 
Madden 99 has the best graphics of any 
football game on any system. 

THE HURDLE ~* Madden 98 bombed, and a 
few of the faithful are still carrying a grudge. 
THE HIT -* It’s the Madden franchise built 
right, from the ground up. 


— I — IV — 


mif mi 



BGAUTy AND 


Polygons + Madden = gridiron glory 






MADDENI5M5 


OK, we tike the “BOOM” from time to 
time, and can even tolerate the occa- 
sional “that had to hurt,” but we must 
draw some lines before other habits of 
the famous commentator make their 
way into the game. Here are a few 
things that should and shouldn’t be 
included in the next version. 


Running on a Voodoo 2 board, the graphics engine renders all 22 
characters in 1,200 polygon models. 


gTslS Telestrator mania: The thought of 
pointless Xs, Os, and other marks con- 
tinually blocking the screen is a fright- 
ening but very realistic possibility 


El; “Real” football fans: No NFL game 
is complete without a camera cut to the 
parking lot as a few tailgate party folk 
grill Spam, make pork-sausage sand- 
wiches, or drink pure melted lard as 
John Madden points to their lack of veg- 
etables and explains how that makes 
them “real” football fans 


Commercials: Frankly the entire 
staff of PCXL could go another 10 years 
without having to watch another Dr Pep- 
per, Ace Hardware, or Tinactin commer- 
cial (scratch the last one, we’re always 
on the lookout for a good jock itch cure) 


[IjBlAll-Madden goons: Pick the ugliest, 
dirtiest, and smelliest guy on the football 
field, and there are 2-to-i odds that he is 
an All-Madden player. We want lots of 
those guys in any football game we play 


Ejli Mud: Do we really have to hear 
Madden say for the millionth time “Y’see, 
if a guy’s got mud on his back, that’s bad, 
but if he’s got mud on the front of his jer- 
sey that’s good.” We don’t even know 
what that means, but it still bugs us 


Fog is just one of the cool 
weather effects in Madden 99. 

most, arm tackles are being added, 
which means that every tackle is no 
longer a straightforward collision 
with two players ignoring the laws 
of physics and merely bouncing off 
each other. EA is also adding realis- 
tic hits, including a particularly 
vicious tackle that sends an oppo- 
nent flying head over heels. 

While these new additions will 
no doubt be a welcome sight for 
hardcore football fans, Electronic 
Arts is also courting a market for 
new players. With the addition of 
its new arcade mode and one-but- 


ton mode, the company is targeting 
the casual fan. The arcade mode 
enables more relaxed gameplay 
rules to give an NFL B//'fz-type expe- 
rience. On the other hand, the one- 
button mode enables the casual 
gamer to jump into a simulation 
game and compete well with only 
one button that does everything. 
These players sacrifice a bit of free- 
dom for control options, but what 
they get back is an easy to play yet 
competitive game. 

Madden’s role has also been 
stepped up in the title, adding more 
color commentary than ever 
before in a football game. 
Commentary bits are 
being scripted for key 
members of every 
team, so between 
plays Madden will add 
stories and anecdotes 
to the gameplay. (We’ve 
suggested ones such as 
“Michael Irvin is leading the 
league in drug convictions this year, 
but he has slipped to number three 
on the assault and battery list 
behind teammate Erik Williams and 
public enemy number 1 Lawrence 
Phillips," although these are unlikely 
to make the finished game.) 

The Madden series is being sig- 
nificantly updated over its previous 
incarnation (the absolutely dreadful 
Madden 98), and by the looks of 
things, the improvements have a 


serious chance to push it to the 
head of the PC football field. EA 
could be well on its way to rebuild- 
ing a reputation that has been tar- 
nished over the last few years by 
products offering little innovation 
and only partial evolution. "9 


__ 


Taking tons of animated hits and tackles, opposing quarterbacks 
and running backs alike will spend a lot of time on the ground. 


ootball has trailed all 
other sports games in 
terms of graphics dur- 
ing the 3D accelerator 
revolution. Much of 
this is because of the difficulties in 
animating and modeling 22 players 
simultaneously onscreen (although 
FIFA: RTWC managed it); other 
sports have significantly fewer 
players to worry about. With Mad- 
den 99, however, it seems that 
football will finally catch up. 

With the help of the latest 3D 
accelerators, Madden 99 animates 
some of the best-looking (and mov- 
ing) football players you’ve ever 
seen. Each of these digital athletes 
is modeled from 1,200 polygons 
(for a Voodoo 2 system, with lower 
poly counts for other boards), and 
each moves remarkably well. Elec- 
tronic Arts has also used its first PC 
polygonal football engine to give a 
much needed fix to some of the 
holes in the series. First and fore- 








DEVELOPER 989 Studios 
PUBLISHER •••> 989 Studios 

■ ■Pi ffniiinllnii |||| 

1 

THF RFAl-iT NH UoIhBUuU UU 

THE HYPE -4 The best playing football 
game of all time now sports 3D accelerated 
graphics. 

THE HURDLE *4 Do PC owners care if Game- 
Day was the best console football game? 

THE HIT -4 A successful PlayStation foot- 
ball series makes its debut on the PC. 

Mm 



The best console football game gets down and dirty on the PC 



fter establishing itself 
as the series to beat 
in console football 
gaming, GameDay has 
aimed its sights 
toward the barely tapped PC mar- 
ket, with a game aimed squarely at 
the hardcore football fan. The 
company formerly known as Sony 
Interactive (now 989 Studios) has 
taken all the things that made its 
PlayStation game so rightly pro- 
claimed the best, and transferred 
them to the PC, taking full advan- 
tage of the powers of the platform. 

The most notable change is the 
graphics, which, thanks to 3D accel- 
eration, look far better than the orig- 
inal PlayStation version. Each play- 
er’s size is based on his real coun- 
terpart’s height and weight, so line- 
men look like linemen and punters 
look like punters. Player animations 
are also much smoother and more 
realistic looking than their PlaySta- 
tion counterparts, even though they 
look similar at first glance. 


BEASTLY MOMENTS 



ifeA* ■ ■ .... : . '• . __ ■■■ . • v.' ■ 

In the “Monday Night Football” audi- 
ence, we watched linebacker extraordi- 
naire and renowned coke fiend 
Lawrence Taylor snap the veteran QB’s 
leg in two. Then we watched again and 
again as the broadcast team replayed it 
until even those with the strongest 
stomachs started to heave. The joe The- 
isman broken leg pencil sharpener just 
made things worse 

The best moment in “The Wide World of 
Sports” was always the intro, which 
showed a hapless ski jumper tumbling 
down a steep slope, over a ledge, and 
through a crowd of shocked onlookers 
who could only duck beneath the flurry 
of limbs 

Who could forget the classic sports 
moment when Rowdy Roddy Piper 
ambushed Jimmy Superfly Snuka and 
pummeled him with assorted tropical 
fruits, including a particularly nasty 
pineapple? 



Jim McMahon rapping and the Fridge 
dancing. Nothing more needs to be said 

Knowing he was going to lose his sec- 
ond straight match to Evander Holyfield, 
Mike Tyson made a strategic decision to 
bite his way out of trouble. Mmmm ... 
tastes like the end of a career 






GameDay 3 s players are btockier 
than those in Madden 99, but 
the tight, well-designed game- 
play of the console version is 
still intact. 


A less notable, but far more 
important change is the addition 
of Internet head-to-head play. This 
means no more looking over your 
shoulder wondering if your oppo- 
nent is scoping out what play you 
called when he should be looking 
at his own list. It also means that 
you are able to set the camera to 
the most optimal angle for both 
offense and defense so you are no 
longer tied to whatever camera 
angle the other player is using. 

Even though GameDay 99 is 
essentially a PC upgrade of Game- 
Day 98, the title manages to 
improve on a successful gameplay 


souped-up version of a PlayStation 
gridiron favorite, but considering 
the quality of its predecessor, we 
could hardly be more excited 
about this title. 


formula, without changing what 
made the game successful in the 
first place. At this early stage, 
GameDay already has the tight 
feel, the solid hits, and the peer- 
less runblocking that a great foot- 
ball game needs. It also has the 
wide variety of control that enables 
players to juke, jive, stiff arm, and 
even hurdle over opponents using 
a simple control layout. 

It’s quite apparent that Game- 
Day 99 is little more than a 


Just like in the NFL, if you 
don’t watch out (above and 
below), the defense is going 
to make you pay. 


The game looks good, but we have a question, 
Wasn’t Roger Staubach’s number retired? 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 







POSTLINSAS' 





T 


mJ 






|^ W 


fbTj 

j* 


[ . . ^K--- •' 

l 

^ - .?, MSpr*^ 

H nr ^}n| 

" «SE? ""^g 



9 . 27.99 



' 

4jj& 4 I 

, i^asi 


IMBT* -■'. , ,--SI 




•• 

& .-.,..J&- ,ri-, $tM 

i 

L 

■ 



Wm 



1 sfe; 


jJP»«: . 








www.heat.net 

Fast, Free, Online gaming 


Operative is sanctioned to terminate resistance uulth extreme prejudice 











iwi ni 1 


■ J 

I ! 




1 ■■ 

Kr ' ■ ' # i 


] 







r H "" r 





; J 







PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



STRATEGY 


e- 


THE ULTIMATE GUIDE 


DEATHMATCH 
DO’S AND DON’TS 


-^xr 


I The basics (or everything any self-respecting 
deathmatcher should know) 






® Learn the maps. You can’t 
waste any time wondering where 
you are or where that cool weapon 
is. You should always know 
exactly where you’re going and 
what you’re gonna do when you 
get there. 


® Keep moving. Especially in lev- 
els like Tundra and DeathFan, you 
could be the victim of a lethal 
head-shot at any time. Disregard 
this rule if you are a sniper-wuss. 


® Your mouse sensitivity should 
be at least 10. Being able to turn 
180 degrees in a flash or make a 
quick check at an intersection is 
absolutely vital. This also dramati- 
cally improves your agility in 
circle-strafing. 


® Learn your opponents’ tenden- 
cies. Are they mad rushers, always 
running and charging others on 
sight even if they only have a pis- 
tol? Are they snipers, hiding out in 
the perfect spot, not moving? 
Use this knowledge to 
your advantage — and 
destroy them all. 

® Adapt your 
playing style to 
the map. If it’s 
small and 
consists 
mostly of 
narrow cor- 
ridors, 
always run- 
ning with a 
heavy-hitting 
weapon like 
the flak can- 
non is the way 
to go. On a large, 
multitiered level, a 
sniper approach may 
get you the win. The 


® Know your weapons. Being 
familiar with each gun’s capabili- 
ties and switching quickly in 


response to 
the situation, rather than continu- 
ally using only your favorite gun, is 
the difference between a hack and 


an expert. 


number of opponents on 
the server should also 
play a part in your 
strategy: Ifthere 
are a few, a hunt- 
ing mode in 
which you 
relentlessly 
attack one 
enemy at a time 
will serve you 
well. If it’s 
crowded, aware- 
ness and survival 
should be a higher 
priority than single- 
minded pursuit. 


® Know when to back off. If 
you’re clearly outgunned or low on 
health, don’t give anyone an easy 
kill, get the hell outta there — 
and come back when you’re in 
fighting shape with a fresh 
clip in your weapon. While 
you retreat, lay down some 
fire to discourage pursuit. 


® Be nimble. When facing 
off against an opponent, 
standing in one place too 
long will get you killed real 
quick. Anticipating where and 
when he’ll fire and dodging 
accordingly is vital if you want 
end up on top. Avoid tactics that 
reduce your maneuverability — 
crouching for example — like the 
plague. Seasoned players know 
there’s nothing easier than taking 
out some crouching fool. 


® Time your shots. Nothing’s 
easier than just burning ammo like 
a complete newbie, even if the 
chance of hitting someone is 
extremely low. Particularly for 
slow-firing weapons like the 
eightball, firing blind will waste 
ammo as well as leave you open 
for a counterattack. 


com- 
puter and 
the server. This 


is likely to affect you 
only if you play over the Internet a 
lot, rather than a LAN. Your ping 
should be as low as possible, with 
anything above 300 being a seri- 
ous disadvantage. You’ll still be 
lining up your shot when your car- 
cass is launched sky-high by an 
eightball round. 


® Have a backup. You should try 
to avoid a full-on conflict until you 
pick up at least two weapons. Ide- 
ally, your knowledge of the map 
will let you quickly power-up with 
multiple weapons and armor before 
you start looking for trouble. Imag- 
ine if in “Taxi Driver” Robert DeNiro 
had gone into that hotel with only 
one gun — he’d have been toast. 


® Use ping times to your advan- 
tage. The lower the ping, the 
quicker the connection 
speed between 




Unreal 


STRATEGY 



A Guide to 
Unreal Weaponry 

BY CLIFF BLESZINSKI 

lead level designer/ 
co-designer for Unreal 


nreal is real, and people seem to really be enjoying it, thus 
making the entire product development team from Epic 
MegaGames and Digital Extremes very happy. From the start, 
Unreal was created to be a different kind of 3D game. Not 
only does your aim have to be straight and true in an Unreal 
deathmatch, you need to master a few tricks in order to reduce your foes 
to steaming heaps of meat. It’s quite possible, but it requires serious 
skills. So, here are some thoughts on my weapon priorities for deathmatch 
play (note that they are different from single player) and why I use them. 



© 


A5MD 


Good for most every situation. If 
your enemy is far away, you can 
hit him with the regular fire 
instantly, which imparts some 
momentum on him. If he is up 
close, you can use the alternate 
fire to knock him away from you 
and do more damage. Be careful, 
however, as the alternate fire can 
damage you if you fire it too close 
to an enemy or the wall. Both 
modes are great for throwing your 
foe off with some momentum; this 
is helpful when he is trying to take 
your head off with the rifle! 

Above all, the ASMD’s special 
move cannot be beaten. There are 
few things in life that are more 
gratifying than timing this move 
properly, but it requires patience 
and skill to master. To perform it, 
first fire your alternate-fire, and do 
not move; Stay perfectly still. Then, 
shoot your alternate fire projectile 
with your regular instant hit firing 
mode. This will cause a super 
explosion, which will annihilate all 
who stand in your way. Practice 
this move while standing still, and 
perhaps someday, grasshopper, 
you will be able to perform it on 
the fly — while strafing, while 
jumping, while dodging. You will 
become unbeatable. If you have 
both the amplifier and the ASMD, 
you’re in luck — this gun will be 
twice as powerful as normal, mak- 
ing gibbage much easier. 


••V 


Eightball 


The ultimate rocket launcher. This 
gun has an intricate timing system 
that requires a clear head to 
master. Shed all preconceptions 
about 3D shooter weapons — this 


gun does not shoot when you 
press your fire button, but rather 
when you release it. This allows 
for the loading of multiple 
grenades — up to six. (The origi- 
nal idea was to have the gun load 
eight, but it proved to be too 
much, and the name had already 
stuck around the office, which is 
why it isn’t a “sixball” launcher.) 
The regular firing mode fires the 
explosives as rockets, the alter- 
nate fire lobs them like grenades. 
The rocket mode is excellent when 
you want to deliver quick death, 
the alternate fire is a good retreat 
mode, useful when lobbed down 
tight corridors or down staircases. 

Remember that all explosions 
cause what is commonly referred 
to as “splash damage.” This 
allows you to merely hit near your 
enemy, instead of having to make 
a direct impact. When you load up 
multiple rockets, the gun has an 
“auto release” mechanism, which 
will automatically dump out all six 
grenades/rockets. Make sure the 
business end of your weapon is 
pointed at your foe at this point, 
not at the pretty stucco wall next 
to you. 

Learning the timing of the eight- 
ball gun and keeping a count of 
your loaded explosives is essen- 
tial to mastering this weapon. 
When you load your first rocket, 
be sure to keep a count in your 
head of how many you are load- 
ing; Each time one is loaded, you 
will hear a distinct clicking sound. 
Use this as your audio cue to 
count. When you have all six 
loaded up, the auto-release will 
kick in and all hell breaks loose. In 
an eight- to 16-player deathmatch, 
many players will immediately 
start loading up rockets the ^ 


The Annihilation Move 

WEAPON: ASMD 


A play-by-play of how to do the ASMD special move. 
Watch the gruesome results! 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




The Gightball Six-Pack 


WEAPON: GIGHTBALL 


Aaaah, the trusty shieldbelt. A remarkably useful 
pickup, especially for deathmatch. 


UIU 




J - t 






■ 


mm 


However, six rockets can make short work of that shield 
when used properly. 


STRATEGY 


Unreal 


^ moment they pick up this gun, 
fire out six, and continue to load 
and fire from that point out. While 
loading up multiple rockets, you 
can press the alternate fire button 
to force the rockets to leave your 
barrel in a tight “0” shape instead 
of in a fanning motion. This is use- 
ful when you want to concentrate 
your attack. 

But wait, there’s more! The 
eightball also has a heat-seeking 
mode. Simply point your gun at 
your foe and you’ll hear a beep. 
Your crosshair will also change. At 
that point, any rockets fired out of 
your gun will be heat-seekers and 
will track your foe. If you can keep 
a lock on your foe and load up mul- 
tiple rockets, then each subse- 
quent rocket will be a heat seeker. 
Talented deathmatchers will be 
able to load up all six rockets while 
keeping a lock on their opponent. 



Minigun 


While the minigun is an old 
standby of the genre, few 3D 
shooters’ miniguns have matched 
the animation or lethality of 
Unreal ’ s egg beater from hell. 

Dual barrels shuffle between one 
another, unloading hundreds of 
bullets that will shred foes to 
pieces — if you can keep a bead 
on them. The regular fire is pretty 
powerful; it starts up quickly and 
keeps a consistent pace. It also 
doesn’t use up a lot of ammuni- 
tion. However, the alternate fire is 
much hungrier. It starts slower, 
but once it gets going it can mow 



Flak Double Whammy 


WEAPON: FLAK CANNON 


down campers like the front lawn, 
eating up all available ammuni- 
tion quickly. If you can keep your 
gun on someone and in his face, 
you can kill him within two to 
three seconds. 

The regular fire is useful for long 
range, when you don’t want to use 
a lot of ammo and want to make 
someone panic. The alternate fire 
is useful when you’re chasing 
someone and you bear down on 
him. lust make sure to keep an eye 
out for ammo for this gun: If you 
run out of ammunition you run the 
risk of being incapacitated during 
the weapon switch period! 




Flak Cannon 


Extremely effective in single 
player, and still tough in death- 
match. The regular fire unloads a 
pile of razor-sharp chunks of 
metal toward your enemy; the 
shots spread out in a cone. When 
you see a couple of poor saps 
duking it out down at the end of a 
hall, unload a few shells of flak 
death in their direction and watch 
the blood fly. 

The alternate fire grenade is 
extremely lethal. If you can hit 
your foe square on with it, you can 
kill him instantly. A square hit with 
the grenade not only does the 
damage of the grenade, but also 
hits with all of the flak chunks. 

A good strategy for this gun is 
to alternate between firing 
modes, fire the chunks at the floor 
and let them ricochet up, and use 
the splash damage of your ^ 







nnBinffiHRHRi 



Off With Their Heads 


The Panic Attack 

WEAPON: STINGER 



Unreal 


STRATEGY 


^ grenade to your advantage by 
bouncing your foes into lava or 
slime (but then you don’t score 
the kill). 


0 


Rifle 


The ultimate camper weapon. The 
alternate fire mode allows you to 
zoom in on your foes, up to hun- 
dreds of feet away. Release the 
mouse, and the zoom stops. 
Zooming also lowers your mouse 
sensitivity on the fly, so you can 
have precise aiming when you’re 
attempting to take off the heads of 
your enemies. That’s right, if you 
are good enough and can hit 
someone in the head, it will kill 
him instantly (provided he’s not 
wearing armor) — one of the most 
satisfying kills in Unreal. 

When you’re caught camping, 
this gun can still be effective, but 
chances are you’re not going to be 
steady enough to go for a head 
shot when a ticked-off foe is chas- 
ing you down with an eightball, so 
get ready to switch weapons when 
you’re caught with your pants 
down. This gun also becomes 
harder to use in lag situations, as 
characters may tend to pop 
around a bit more and will become 
harder to hit. 


BioRifle 



Stinger 


The sound of the regular fire and 
sight of shards whizzing at oppo- 
nents’ heads can cause a panic 
reaction in a deathmatch. You’ll 
have to keep a bead on your foe for 
a bit; the best technique is to run at 
him with the regular fire hosing and 
then hit him with an alt-fire blast up 
close to finish him off. This gun is 
slightly weaker than the others, but 
it is good for inducing panic. 


a 


Razor Jack 


The razorjack is extremely useful 
for decapitating foes. The ricochet- 
ing ability and ability to curve the 
razors makes it very useful for 
sneaky around-the-corner attacks. 
When aimed at your foe’s head or 
fired in a small room, this gun 
quickly becomes indispensable. 
The alternate fire can be curved by 
a slight flick of the mouse, allow- 
ing you to “steer” your shots. This 
mode also shoots faster than the 
regular fire. 

If you need to conserve ammo, 
use the regular fire, otherwise 
hose your enemy with the alter- 
nate fire. Also, avoid wrecking 
yourself with rebounding razors by 
firing at the ground. You can still 
decapitate an opponent, but you 
can save yourself in the process. 


The best retreat weapon ever. If 
you are low on health and you 
have to back away from your foe, 
simply unload biorifle waste in the 
hallway between you and your foe. 
He’ll have a tough time avoiding 
all of the lethal snot wads and 
might just give up and chase down 
someone else. 

The alternate fire allows you to 
load up and create an immense 
globule of Tarydium waste, which 
you can stick on the ceiling and 
watch drip down on your oppo- 
nents. A larger glob is also far 
more lethal. 

The biorifle is similar to the 
sticky grenades that you see in 
other 3D games, only with a fast 
firing rate and a chain-reaction 
feature. If you lay out a pile of 
goop globules and prevent them 
from touching one another, they 
will explode when touched. How- 
ever, if one globule touches 
another, it will cause a chain reac- 
tion that will trigger an explosion 
throughout all nearby globules. 


DispErsion Pistol 


Most default weapons are pretty 
useless, but Unreal ’ s dispersion 
pistol can kill your foes with a few 
well-placed hits and blind them 
when they’re trying to attack you 
with a stronger weapon, which 
allows for a quick getaway. 

If you manage to find weapon 
power-ups, you can improve your 
dispersion pistol several times, 
which can increase the damage 
greatly. With the amplifier, the dis- 
persion pistol can be a one-shot kill 
weapon. When it’s the only weapon 
you have, first panic, then run. 

Don’t get caught up in a fight, even 
with someone else with the pistol. 
Get armed fast. A few shots in the 
face can help your getaway, though. 


♦ 


AutoMag 


Good for precision, but I’d strongly 
suggest acquiring another weapon 
fast if you expect to win your death- 
match. So it’s pretty much useless! 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 







You command torn of the century tanks, 
battleships and observation balloons. 
Tbeij command 200-fool Figbling Machines. 



• S--V?, 




Size doesn't matter. 
Strategy does! 

It s not houi big ijour units are. it's inha! gou do mith them. When the Martian mar 
machine lands on the green and pleasant land of 19th centurg Britain, 
strategg is all gou've got. Hnd in this revolutionarg non-linear mar. gou'll need it. 
Deplog gour forces angmhere on the map of Britain. Choose gour missions. 
Pick gour battles. Because gou can lose a battle and still min the War. Magbe. 
It's gour primitive tanks against their Fighting Machines. Your biplanes against 
their Flging Machines. Your observation balloons against their Xeno-telepaths. 
ISO 3D rendered units stand betmeen gou and Martian domination. 

Or experience strategg from the other side and plag as the Martians! 




Based on the classic novel by H.G. Wells and featuring a fully remixed 
45 minute score licensed and composed by best selling artist Jeff Wayne 



Available soon at your local retailer 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 

"The War of the Worlds" © 1998 Rage Software Limited. All Rights Reserved. Published and Distributed by GT Interactive Software Corp. GT is a trademark and 
the GT Logo is a registered trademark of GT Interactive Software Corp. The Story, script, artwork and logo from Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of "The War of the 
Worlds" © Ollie Record Productions. The musical score from Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of "The War of the Worlds" © 1978 Jeff Wayne Music (Publishing) 
Ltd. Microsoft ® and Windows ® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other Trademarks are the property of their respective companies. 




m 

A.'.- 


jp» ' ^ f. 
•••.? ' 

}H|fc t 





PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



STRATEGY 


Unreal 


w 

e’ve all heard 
plenty about 
camping and 

Who are you 

& 

VV 

how lame it is, 
slowly destroy- 

calling a camperP 

vr/ 


ing deathmatch, yadda yadda 
yadda. However, Unreal takes 
camping to all new heights 
(lows?) with the sniper rifle. With 
the level of skill and precision it 
requires, it threatens to turn 
camping into an art form. Here’s a 
primer on how to handle various 
camping spots scattered over five 
of the default multiplayer maps. 



lie 


@ D MARK A: 

This peach of a camping spot is on the highest plat- 
form in the level (where the sniper rifle respawns), on 
one of the four ledges found on the sides (not where 
the second rifle respawns, mind you). Find the one 
overlooking the razorjack respawn and crouch there. 
This is a high-traffic area due to the razorjack, as well 
as the armor and health at the end of the platform. 
You’ll be popping heads like big zits if no one discov- 
ers your crouching ass. 


® DMMORBIAS: 

This spot underneath an elevator gives you a straight line of fire into the 
center of the room. Fire your shots in a spread rather than a cluster to 
increase your chances of hitting someone. On the down side, don’t expect 
to live too long when someone dues in on what you’re up to. Let’s face it, 
this rocket arena doesn’t offer many camping options. 


® DMHEALPOD: 

This one’s a little tricky to get to, and easy to miss — but 
well worth it. First, pick up the sniper rifle found on the 
second level. Then, jump into one of the darkened corri- 
dors (there are two, so if it turns out to be the wrong 
one, just go back). It looks like a dead end, but if you 
turn 90 degrees, you’ll see that it continues on — all the 
way to a sniper rifle ammo respawn and a hell of a camp- 
ing spot. In the shroud of darkness, you can pick off peo- 
ple from three directions, like a big shooting gallery. 


DMDECK16: 

On the second level, look for the area with the goo gun and the toxic suit. 
Jump to the platform with the sniper rifle and lots of ammo. Go to the edge 
and pick off the fools who run around without a clue. To get a camper, use 
the eightball spread or grenades. The biorifle close to the sniping platform 
is also effective for destroying those camping gits. 


® DMTUNDRA: 

You might be tempted to lean over the edge of the 
tower and shoot down into the courtyard, but don’t — 
it’s too easy for someone to sneak up on you. Instead, 
go to the far edge of the elevator and look down. 
When people use the elevator to come get you, greet 
them with a cluster of eightball rounds. You can also 
fire out one of the windows to the courtyard. Thanks 
to the ammo that respawns right next to you, you can 
stay up there all day, you camping bitch, just kidding. 


o your buddies are 
raving about how 
good this game is, 
but you just haven’t 
had the time or 
inclination to get into it yet? No 
worries, PCXL is here for ya with a 
crash course in Unreal in the form 
of a zany test. Take it, and you’ll 
be talking like a seasoned pro in 
no time. And if you think you know 
your stuff, here’s your chance to 
prove it, hotshot. There is only one 
correct answer for the questions. 



Unreal 


STRATEGY 


How to sound like 
an Unreal expert 


EVEN IF YOU’RE NOT 



Q At respawn, the first thing you 
should do is: 

® Try to finish off a weakened 
opponent 

® Go find a good weapon 
© Find someplace dark to hide 


© What’s the difference between a 
Skaarj and a Nali? 

® Skaarj good, Nali bad 
© Nali good, Skaarj bad 
© Is this question about single-player 
or something? 


© What is, hands down, the coolest 
deathmatch level in Unreal ? 

® The Cone of Tragedy 
© The Shooting Gallery 
© You haven’t played either and must 
try the PCXL Disc 


Q When firing a rocket at someone, 
you should aim at: 

® The torso 
© The feet 
© The family jewels 

Q Which does the most damage? 

® Direct hit from an eightball round 
© Direct hit from flak cannon 
(primary) 

© Direct hit from goo gun (secondary) 

Q In an open space, you should: 

® Use the automag 
® Use the ASMD 

© Run around like a headless chicken 
and fall off things 

Q In a tight corridor, it’s best to: 

® Rush through with guns blazing 
while screaming profanities 
® Wait to see what’s around the 
next corner 

© Blow yourself up in a panic 

© In a one-on-one confrontation, 
you should: 

® Pick your shots carefully 
® Fire at will 

© Look for someone named Will, 
then fire at Will 


The secondary fire mode of the 
dispersion pistol: 

® Will not hurt you if fired point-blank 
© Is the most powerful weapon 
in the game 
© Sucks 


@ Crouching is: 

® An excellent defensive strategy 

® Hopelessly stupid and makes you 
easy to kill 

© All of the above 

Q Which playing style is most 
effective? 

® Rushing like mad at the nearest 
opponent, regardless of what 
weapon you have 

® Camping in one area and picking 
off targets 

© Selecting only servers that host 
players who are dumber than level 
zero Bots 

© Holding down the right mouse 
button when charging-up primary 
fire eightball rounds will: 

® Make the rockets fire in a cluster 
rather than a spread 

® Cause everything to explode in 
your face 

© Quit out to the desktop 

© What’s the main disadvantage of 
sniper mode? 

® Loss of mobility 

© Tunnel vision 

© You can’t hit a damn thing 

© How can you steer your razorjack 
shots? 

® You can’t 

© Flick the mouse immediately after 
you fire 

© Use the Force 


© The best Unreal competition is 
typically found: 

® On an online gaming service 
® On your office LAN 
© In Botmatch level 3 

© Hitting the F key will: 

® Make you lie down and play dead 
® Flip the other guy off 
© Activate the secret shoe phone 

When someone wins a game by 
more than 15 kills, you: 

® Quit out of frustration 
® Vow revenge, come back for more 
© Must have gone to get a beer for 
that to happen 

What’s the main difference 
between the three types of 
character models? 

® Troopers have the most health, 
girls are the quickest 
® The guys can jump the highest 
© The Wookie model kicks 
everyone’s ass 


@ The best way to kill someone in 
Unreal is: 

® Launch ’em in the air with the 
eightball, then hit ’em again as 
soon as he lands 

© Shoot his head clean off with the 
sniper rifle 

© Do whatever it takes to punch 
his ticket. As long as he dies, it’s 
good 

© If you don’t have a 3Dfx or 
PowerVR card, you’re: 

® Screwed 

® Really screwed 

© Both A and B 

@ How many weapons can 
decapitate? 

® One 

® Three 

© More than three 


MlO^lS oi pus 'Sjm }nd 0 } A eM aam e s.ieqM uiiun :6fr-o 
snp|s aqi Sj jeaj aqi inq ajaqi },us| isnf aSpajMOUif aqi : 69 -oS 
(zinb aqi dn apeiu aM pue pajoas |]e aM ieq/v\ sj sjqi ‘naq) 
sjaMSue Auunj aqi jjo Suppaqa isisaj i,up|noD }nq ‘ iDdJUp JnoA mou>| noA :6s-oZ 
(paieaqa noA jo) auo a>ui punos uea isea| ie jo po3 iDdjun ue aje noA :+o6 

•siumd oz nasjnoA aAiS ‘uoipas 

Suiipieiu aqi paiajdujoa noA j| -siumd S uesjnoA eAiS UaMsue pojjod qaea joj 

d-tz ‘a-oz P-61 P-8T ‘e -Lx ‘(jainduioa aqi 01 pcau aq pjnoqs jaaq jnoA) q-91 
‘e-Si P-to ‘q-£x ‘q-zt *q-u ‘e-ox *>6 ‘q-8 ‘q-Z ‘ 3*9 ‘e-S ‘e-tr ‘q-£ ‘q-z ‘q-t 



MATCHINi 


Match the thingy in Column A with the thingy in Column B. 
Note: You can use items in Column B more than once. 


A B 

Campers • 

• Losers 

Snipers • 

• Incorrectly named 

People who whine about low ping • 

f Last month’s Fantasy Frag 

Eightball • 

/ • Costs 89 cents in San Francisco 

Flak • 

/ • The Man 

Dinky, the Taco Bell chihuahua * 

• Shouldn’t be banned 

People who whine about snipers • 

• Good for distracting foes 

Taco Belt bean burrito • 

• Buggy as hell 

Voice box • 

• Legit players 

Tim Sweeney • 

• Plays Unreal while high 

John Carmack • 

• Bad in a high ping situation 

Ultimate fighting • 

• Deadliest weapon in the game 

Farrah Fawcett • 


Internet Unreal • 


Sex • 


Sniper rifle • 

m HBV 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 








he Internet is no longer the place where only hard- 
core gamers come to play. The proliferation of con- 
nected computers has made online gaming the 
highest priority in game development. Take for 
instance Quake Arena (see news story on page 120), a game 
that primarily focuses on multiplayer, with its single-player 


T 


experience concentrating on practice against Bots for the online 
challenge. And where Id leads, the industry follows. 

Because of this online explosion, we have created a column 
that covers multiplayer gaming like only we can. Our goal is 
to help you to become a more competitive player and a more 
deadly opponent for any poor soul who dares challenge you. 


00 

Q\ 

0\ 


a> 

-O 

E 

O) 

■*-> 

CL 

<1> 

LD 

O' 

o 


VJ 

< 

u 

Q- 


HOU TO BECOME AN UNREAL GOD CANO HAUE FUN DOING IT) 


118 


STEP 1: GET A GOOD SKIN 

Face it, joining a deathmatch with 
one of the standard Unreal skins is 
inexcusably boring. Wearing the 
most common skins, you lose any 
chance of standing out as a true 
Unreal champ, so you might as 
well get comfortable in the middle 
of the standings ladder. 

Currently www.planetunreal.com/ 
houseofstvle has the most compre- 
hensive list of skins on the Inter- 
net. The site offers players pre- 
made skins, such as a lava crea- 
ture, the obligatory female nude, 
and a voluptuous Vampirella. Note 
that setting up the skins takes a lot 
of work, and this site has by far the 
best explanation of how to get 
them up and running. 

If you can’t find what you’re look- 
ing for, House of Style also gives 
tips on creating skins of your own. If 
you’re short on ideas here are a few: 

® Stephen Hawking in nuclear- 
powered exoskeleton armor 
© A really pissed-off Smurf 
© A really pissed-off Gary Cole- 
man (then, bind taunts like 
“Whatchu talking about, Willis?”) 
© A half-nude Martha Stewart 
(it’s a good thing) 

© The entire cast of “The Facts of 
Life” (except Natalie — no one 
wants to see that) 

STEP 2: UPGRADE YOUR GAME 

You’ve already found that Unreal 
has some lag problems; now it’s 
time to get that fixed. Epic is (at 
press time) near finished with a 
patch that will fix some online 
bugs. Download the latest update 
from the PCXL Disc. 

STEP 3: PRACTICE, PRACTICE, 

AND PRACTICE SOME MORE 

Unreal has four levels of Bots rang- 


PERFECT SKIN 




i£e3 


Unreal skins are flat picture files (right) that wrap 
around character models like clothes. 


* 


RIF '■ 


No Unreal master would be caught dead in a standard skin; 
something with a little more artistic flair is always preferable. 


ing from downright stupid to 
smarter than the entire archeology 
department at William and Mary 
College. Start with 15 level-zero 
Bots and get a feel for the pace of 
the game, slowly raising the com- 
petition level until you feel com- 
fortable with the chaos of a full 
deathmatch at level two. Before 
you start online, you should be 
able to beat 15 level-one oppo- 
nents at least 80% of the time. 

STEP 4: CREATE A GOOD NAME 

If you’ve been playing as much 
online Unreal as the staff of PCXL, 
then you know just how important 
a good deathmatch name is. If you 
run around with an improper name 
(like Player, Gazzitlla, or JuliaChilds- 


Fan) you will only raise the ire of 
those around you, making yourself 
a prime target. You must have a 
name worthy of respect, and to 
help you, we’ve created a few sure- 
fire formulas to make a truly perfect 
deathmatch nickname. 

Method a 

© A: Pick a body part or bodily 
function you wouldn’t talk about 
in front of your mother 
© B; Pick an animal 
© C: Put together 
© Examples: ButtKitten, 
FartRhino, PhlegmMonkey 

Method 2 

© A: Take a heavy-metal song title 
© B: Subtract one word and 


replace with sex-addicted politician 
© Examples: PourSomeSugarOn- 
SenatorPackwood, BarkAtBillClin- 
ton, SympathyForTedKennedy 

Method 3 

© A: Choose a dead celebrity 
© B: Let hilarity ensue 
© Examples: PhilHartman, Sonny- 
Bono, Ghandi, RiverPhoenix 

Method 4 

© A: Have a friend choose a 
dead celebrity’s assailant or cause 
of death 

© B: Read kill lines, then laugh 
hysterically at the irony 
© Examples: PhilHartman’sWife, 
PineTree, Bullet, Heroin 

STEP 5: FIND THE BEST 
COMPETITION 

Lag can be as important to your 
rankings as your wetl-honed skill. 

If you have a high lag, you are at a 



Decapitations are better 
with funny names. 











Engine. LigW (scripted) 


?SiStari\ ' By 23 V online arena pic... \ _£System 


The Unreal level editor seems daunting at first, but with a little help from online tutorials, you’ll be 
designing your own worlds in no time. 


You can find more original Unreal deathmatch levels — like the 
Cone of Tragedy — on the PCXL Disc. 


are more visually metioecL — ; j — 

© u nreal.epicgames.com rflie 

Unreal Technical Information page 
is the perfect supplement for 
Unreal experts. It gives concise 
tutorials on extras like modifying 
Al, animating textures, and com- 
posing your own music. 

STEP 9: CREATE SOME UNREAL 
ANARCHY 

If you’re tired of making straight- 
forward Unreal levels, it’s time to 
have a little fun. The editor enables 
you to test out the full range of 
your creativity no matter how 
weird that may be. Oddities, at 
www.planetunreal.com/oddities . 
has the biggest collection of Unreal 
modifications, including the cuddly 
but dangerous BattleCows, aptly 
named BunnyBazookas, and down- 
right bizarre BubbleBoxes. 

STEP 10: JOIN PCXL’S GATHERING 
OF LEVEL DESIGNERS (GOLD) 

Now that you have mastered mul- 
tiplayer games and have made the 
definitive deathmatch level (com- 
plete with your unique touches), 
it’s time to take it to the big 
leagues. Each month the PCXL 
Disc will be packed with the best 
user-created levels on the Inter- 
net, and a few of our own cre- 
ations that, uh ... defy description. 
So if you want to truly be an 
Unreal god, submit your level or 
modification to gold@pcxl.com, 
and if it’s good enough we’ll list it 
alongside such luminaries as Cone 
of Tragedy and Shooting Gallery. 
Then you’ll have finally arrived. 


— "Barth 

— "OamageType 
— "Decoration 
-"Effect* 
-"HUD 

— Info 

— Inventory 
— "Kejpoint 


—"Menu 

— “NavigationPotnt 
-"Pawn 
-"Projectile 
— "Scorefioard 
—’Triggers 


F? Only show Actor classes 


severe disadvantage to every low- 
life camper with a fully loaded 
sniper rifle and a low ping connec- 
tion (the infamous “LPBs”— Low 
Ping Bastards for the uninitiated). 
The best way to do this is to find 
the closest connection with a util- 
ity, like the handy game finder 
from GameSpy. Available for trial 
usage at www.gamespy.com. it 
gives players information about 
opponents, ping times, and cur- 
rent game statistics so you know 
what kind of war you’re jumping 
into before you ever get there. 
Look for a connection below 300 
ping for a 28.8 modem and lower 
for faster connections. 

STEP 6: JUST WIN, BABY 

No one remembers second place 
and only the best become legends, 
so everything else is secondary if 
you don’t win. If you want to find 
out exactly how to win, check out 
our in-depth strategy guide from 
the guys who made the game on 
page 110. 

STEP 7: PERFECT YOUR TAUNTS 

Now that you’re winning, it’s time 
to rub it in. Go to the options menu 
and click on the advanced options 
bar. Inside this is another advanced 


options menu that contains the key 
binding menu. From this menu, 
pick an unused key and add your 
taunt in the following manner: Say 
[insert taunt here]. Flere are a few 
taunts that work in any situation: 

© That’s gotta hurt 
© Take that you sniping little ... 

© Mmm. Tastes like chicken 
© Die #$©%% DIE 

STEP 8: CREATE YOUR OWN 
LEVELS 

OK, you’ve mastered the gameplay 
and can take down anyone who 
dares cross your path. It’s time to 
put a little something back into the 
community. Nothing will immortal- 
ize you like a few well-crafted 
deathmatch levels, and Unreal has 
all the tools packed in for you to 
create a masterpiece world of your 
own. Beware, however, that while 
the tools are easy to use, the edi- 
tor itself is grossly underdocu- 
mented. If you really want to know 
how to build levels, take a look at a 
few websites that will transform 
you from confused world builder to 
master Unreal architect. 

© www.unrealed.com : 
Unrealed.com has more walk- 


throughs and tutorials than any- 
one else to teach beginners the 
basics and experienced users the 
hidden details in the editor. 

© www.creativecarnage.com / 
unreal : For beginners, the tutorials 
at this site are the most straight- 
forward and easy to use. 

© www.planetunreal.com / portal : 
The tutorials in Portal are supple- 
mented with pictures for those who 


PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 





Leonardo DiCaprio made his first television appearance on “The New Lassie' 



OTHER 


CONTENDERS 


THE POWER METER 


/ l 

|AtV\ c t- o X 


ANACHRONOX 

Ion Storm 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT~> RPG 
fens who don’t want to sit through 
another ugly, aimless PC RPG 
WHAT IT IS -? A Final Fantasy 
VII- style RPG set in a fully 3D world. 
Using the high-end graphics of a 
first-person shooter, this title aims 
to recreate the PC RPG 
WHY irs A PCXL GAME-) 
Quake II engine, and the promise of 
super special effects 
WHERE ITS AT~> Still early in 
development, and with its ambitious 
premise (and Ion Storm’s burgeon- 
ing reputation for tardiness), this 
game could be a long time coming 
WHEN ITS COMING-4 
Summer ’99 


NEWS YOU CAN TRUST 
FROM PEOPLE YOU 
SHOULDN’T 


Dead? 


Last month’s ratings are from 
PCXL’s trial issue, distributed only 
at E3 and now available only online 
at 


HERE’S A QUICK LOOK AT THE BIGGEST 
GAMES WE DIDN’T PREVIEW THIS MONTH. 


TRESPASSER 

DreamWorks 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-4 

Those who think Deer Hunter isn’t 
scary enough 

WHAT IT IS—) First-person 
shooter with nearly every object in 
the environment modeled with real 
physics so players can use things 
such as boxes, sticks, and barrels to 
help them survive against some of 
the most realistic (and frightening) 
dinosaurs yet seen in a game 
WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME—) Hun 
gry dinosaurs, real physics, and rocks 
that you can chuck at velociraptors 
WHERE IT’S AT— ) Trespasser jwasj 
one of the most impressive titles at 
E3, but it still needs to make better 
use of 3D accelerator hardware 
WHEN IT’S COMING--) 

Fall ’98 ^ P-121 


Is Quake III 


•3 


DGCAPR IO 

WHY WE HATE HIM: Fifty-one appear- 
ances in Teen Sect and a career that 
started on “Growing Pains” should 
be enough. But he also deserves 
a good frag every time some 
hormone-induced 12-year-old 
girl screams in a theater when 
the smooth-faced girly man 
walks onscreen. 

HOW HE SHOULD BE 
FRAGGED: He should be bound 
and dropped into a matinee 
showing of Titanic, to be torn 
apart by the horde of pre-adolescent 
girls that will be watching. Or he should 
be forced to watch his movie debut in Crit- 
until he chokes on his own bile. 


1 


3D REALMS-;- With Prey, 
Duke Nukem Forever, and 
Max Payne stealing the show 
at this year’s E3, 3D Realms 
established itself as the one 
to beat in 3D gaming. 


EPIC MEGAGAMES— •> Unreal 
lived up to its considerable 
promise, and has become 
the engine of choice. 


3DFX— Voodoo 2 is still 
the king of 3D acceleration. 
GT INTERACTIVE -4 The 
publisher behind 3D Realms’ 
biggest titles and Unreal is 
sitting pretty. 


ACTIVISION—? Sin, Heavy 
Gear 2, Heretic II, and I-82 
anchor this company’s 
ambitious plans for 1998 
and beyond. 


SIERRA—? Sierra has 
locked on to action gamers 
with a host of new titles like 
Half-Life, Homeworld, and 
Starsiege. 


MICROPROSE— >• Both X- 
COM Alliance and Starship 
Troopers are a step in the 
right direction. 


ELECTRONIC ARTS- ? 

Madden looks good — 
really good. 

ID SOFTWARE -4 A tempo- 
rary drop down the power 
meter until Quake Arena 
blows away every other 
game on the market. 

EIDOS-? Thanks in part to 
Ion Storm, Eidos has plenty 
of titles scheduled for the 
coming year. It could have 
ranked higher if it didn’t run 
out of beer at its E3 bash. 


SEGASOFT -4 Skies looks 
terrific, and the company 
didn’t run out of beer at its 
E3 party. 


LUCASARTS— ? Force Com- 
mander and Indiana Jones 
are almost enough to 
make us forget Star Wars 
Rebellion ... almost. 


POWERVR -4 Promise of 
second-generation sounds 
good, but we’ll defer 
judgement until we have 
one in our hands. 


BLIZZARD-? Dropping 
Warcraft Adventures was 
smart, but now that Diablo 
II has been pushed into 
next year the company will 
have to rely on StarCraft 
sales through ’98. 


n what is certainly a com- 
ment on the future of com- 
puter gaming, Id Software 
announced that the next 
incarnation of Quake will 
focus solely on multiplayer action. 
According to Id boss John Car- 
mack, the game will be called 
Quake Arena (instead of Quake III) 
to better represent this emphasis. 
The single-player game has been 
revamped as a progression 
through a ranking ladder against 
Al bots, and will exist primarily to 
develop deathmatch skills. 

“There are many wonderful 
gaming experiences in single- 
player first-person shooters, but 
we are choosing to leave them 
behind to give us a purity of 
focus,” Carmack said of the 
change. “We have always 
designed two games at once, the 
single-player game and the multi- 
player game, and they often had 
conflicting goals.” 

Even though the company has 
announced changes, the deal is not 
yet done. Publisher Activision 
knows that the market for action 
games is exploding, and does not 
want its considerable investment in 
the Quake franchise to go to waste. 
PCXL expects the Quake III name 
and single-player action will be 
added to the game before it is fin- 
ished. Activision is moving toward 
3D acceleration-only with its new 
action game lineup, and expects 


Quake III to be the anchor title. 

However the publisher/devel- 
oper relationship pans out, it is 
fair to expect that Id’s continuing 
leading-edge position in the genre 
it created will all but ensure 
Quake Ill/Arena will ship with a 
graphics engine that steps well 
beyond Epic’s Unreal. 


TIPS FOR A LOSING MAN 

OK, you can’t win ’em all. Unless you are 
Quake-master extreme Thresh, you’re 
eventually going to get fragged by some 
cheating camper, or outscored by some 
lucky idiot, so expect a few disappoint- 
ments on your way to deathmatch 
immortality. With the help of noted 
manly psychologists and animal thera- 
pists, we have compiled a list of ways 
that you can deal with losing without 
being a loser. 

STEP 1: Don’t lose, you idiot. If that 
doesn’t work, follow the next few steps. 

STEP 2: Spend next few hours perfect- 
ing your excuse. A few examples: 

© My [x] wasn’t working properly 
© I meant to do that 
© I was doing something else 
© The other players were cheating 
STEP 3: Blame the people who made 
the game 

STEP 4: Take a deep breath and then 
release it in the form of an especially 
foul profanity 

STEP 5: Release aggression by playing 
sports (like computer tossing) 

STEP 6: Put on soothing music, so 
neighbors don’t hear you cry like a baby 
STEP 7: Drive to local computer super- 
store, return game, take hostages 
STEP 8: Get back in car, start engine, 
close garage, and contemplate the 
afterlife as you slowly drift to sleep 

















At PCXL we cater to a distinct type of gamer: the hardcore action fan. Distinguishing between the PCXL gamer 
and other gamers is simple, but just in case you were wondering which you were, we offer this pictorial guide. 


ALIENS US. PREDATOR 


Fox Interactive 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT •■> 


Fans of “aliens eat humans” movies 


WHAT IT IS-—)' The long-awaited 


meeting between the baddest alien 


baddies ever conceived 


WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME—) 


C’mon, it’s a 3D shooter where you 


can be a slimy atien monster, a cam- 


ouflaged creature from outer space, 


or a hapless Colonial Marine 


WHERE IT’S AT-> At this early 


stage the game isn’t as visually excit- 


Unreal engines, but the concept 


behind it is strong 


WHEN IT’S COMING-) 


Winter ’98 


1 Often wonders why the mouse needs three buttons (apparently he has never heard of alternate fire buttons) 2 Clean desk = clean mind = 
b-o-o-o-ring 3 Watching a fat lady sing in a language you don’t understand is more important than games 4 Wife left him for running up $200 
phone bill calling the Myst help line 5 Real dogs are just too messy 6 Why would you want to build an island when you can destroy one? 7 No 
need for 3D acceleration here 8 Full of words like milquetoast, wimp, weakling, sissy, milksop, pantywaist, wussy, doormat, yellowbelly 
9 Plays with himself 


GIANTS 


Planet Moon Studios 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT 


Fans of Gheorghe Muresan 


WHAT IT IS—) A strategy/action 
You control a giant, 


game. 


a crack military unit, or a sultry 


sorceress battling for a small island 


WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME- 


Half-naked magic women 


WHERE IT’S AT--> Its unique 


gameplay elements and flashy 


graphics make this game one to 


WHEN IT’S COMING--) 


HERETIC II 


Activision 


1 Sustenance is crucial during long game sessions 2 The all-important backlog of classics (See “25 Greatest Guy Games” feature) 3 Bad 
games make the best posters 4 Souped-up gaming rig more important than car 5 The ever-present Lara 6 Hardware upgrades galore 
7 Crazed look reserved for most intense deathmatches 8 Spare stick for use when primary stick fails 9 Remains of last guy who changed his 
Quake settings 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT - -) 

Those who can figure out how 


WHAT KIND OF GAMGR ARG YOUP 


THE PCXL GAMER 


(D 

3 ^■ 

IS! 

|T| 

CO 



□> 





















































































PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 




PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 


•. #l 


1 


• • * • • 

► • • • • 



* •! 


- w_ w _ V 


Q 

□> 

|T| 


CO 


C .1 

□> 


122 


^ this relates to Hexen II 

WHAT IT IS-') The first third-per- 
son shooter in the Hexen/Heretlc 
franchise with plenty of magic 
spells to replace the lack of rocket 
launchers 

WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME-) Lots 
and lots of special effects j 
WHERE irs AT-) The title looks 
very cool right now, and with many 
more months before its holiclay 
release, Heretic II could nudge into 
Lara Croft’s adventure territory 
WHEN IT’S COMING-) 

Winter ’98 



STARSIEGE 

Dynamix 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-) 
fans pf the old £ arthsiege series 
WHAT IT IS-) A shooter that lets 
players know what it must be like to 
be a footsoldler amongst the giant 
robots that populate many a game 
WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME-) 
Great graphics and plenty of cool 
weapons and vehicles 
WHERE IT’S AT-) Looking good, 
and the technology demos work 
WHEN IT’S COMING-) 

■firri — r~ 



STARSHIP 

TROOPERS 


Microprose 


s 


.4. 4, 4. 


The Real Battle Betwe 


.4 .4 4 + - 4 * + 4 




4 4 4 


4 + 


4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 + 4 4 


The 10-second 


QUAKE II STRATEGY 


HOW ID Kill A CROUCHER 


+ ! 


"f 

M ] 

4 - 


When playing multiplayer 
Quake II, some opponents will 
try a strategy of crouching to 
avoid file. Here is PCXL’s sure- 
fire way to kill a croueher. 


STEP 1; AIM LOW 


STEP 2: SHOOT CROUCHER 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-) 

Would-be exterminators 
WHAT IT IS-) An alien-filled 
shooter based more on the sci-fl 
novels by Robert Heinleln than the 
big-budget gorefest directed by 
PaulVerhoeven 

WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME--) The 

bug rush, and the hope that they 
added a co-ed shower level from 
the movie 

WHERE irs AT-) The game 

engine already can display attacks 

by ama2lng numbers of aliens at ^ p. 123 



w 


4 4 4 4 4 4 4 - 4 4 4.4 4 4 4 4 

hile you have undoubtedly determined your prefer- 
ence between the two first-person-shooter-big-kids- 
on-the : block, another, more important battle 
between Quake and Unreal is taking shape: Devel- 
opers who are tired of trying to keep up with the lat- 
est 3D engine technology are now licensing already-made graphics 
engines for their new titles. The two most popular choices are Id Soft- 
ware’s Quake // engine and Epic MegaGames’ Unreal engine. 

At first the dear choice was id’s Quake II: When it debuted, it was the 
undisputedtechnologicai leader, and developers rushed toticense the 
engine for their own take on the first-person-shooter genre., (In addition, 
the release of QuakeC had developed a rabid amateur Quake community 
creating inventive — albng with truly awful— add-ons.) But once people 
caught wind of Epic's Unreal engine (and more importantly its simple, 
lightning-quick editing tools) the tide turned the other way withan equal 
number of developers rushing to use that technology. The resulting war 
has created an impressive lineup of new titles boasting either technol- 
ogy. Many of the best games at this year’s E3 used either of the two 
engines, wHichwill only prompt more movetnerit toward both. 

However,a trend is emerging-in the development community, and one 
engine is slowly moving toward the top. Developers are latching on to the 
ease of use and reduced rendering time of the Unreal engine. They have 


also begun to discover thatscripting 
events is much faster and easier 
with Epic’s. technology, and thecomr 
pany offers much more support, for 
developers with questions. 

jD Realms recently announced 
that it was switching Duke Nukem 
Forever to Unreal from Quake IU 
“The switch to the Unreal engine 
was simply a business decision, and 
it came down to what we wanted to 
do with Duke Nukem Forever arid 
how best to.achievg.it,” George 
Broussard said. Because of Unreal’s 
editing tools, 3D Realms figures it 
will take only four to six weeks to 
have the entire project at the same 
point as. it was before the switch. 

Even though the licensing battle is 
almost equal right now, Unreal is 
picking up steam and will likely 
become the dear leader in the com- 
ing year. If Id (which practically cre- 
ated the user-definable 3D worlds) 
learns from Epic’s brash up-and- 
conier and makes its Quake III 
engine more developer-friendly, the 
upper hand could change once 
again. The titles currently in devel- 


HEAD TO HEAD 


The battle between the Quake II and 
Unreal engines will be fought in 
games that license them, but debate 
already rages (on the Internet and in 
certain bars in the Silicon Valley) over 
which game looks the best. 



Quake IPs graphics are cer- 
tainly amazing, even if all 
the textures tend to be a 
little ... brown. 



opment for each system follow. 


Unreal* s graphics are more 
flashy than Quake /f s, but it 
takes a monster PC to make 
them run smoothly. 


llli : 

4. 







en Quake 1 1 and Unreal 




+ +-. 

- K - 4- 


+ + 


^ Eg M ES EWTCH ' ^6K:i6( « W6 f''¥ . 7S- . a fiMe S W l i; Q UAK O i€«gW E: 




KLINGON HONOR GUARD 

Developer: Microprose 

Finally a "Star Trek: 

The Next Generation” 
game that doesn’t 
focus on that wimpy 
peace-loving Captain 
Picard and his milksop 
band of Starfleet offi- 
cers, but turns its 
attention to the real 
heart of the sci-fi 
series, the bloodthirsty 
Klingons. With plenty of impressive hand-to-hand weapons to 
complement “StarTrek’”s usually wussy phasers, players can 
get down and dirty without ever having to worry about main- 
taining the Prime Directive. 


WHEEL OF TIME 

Developer: legend Entertainment 

Based on Robert Jor- 
dan’s popular fantasy 
novels, Wheel of Time 
blends action and 
strategy from a first- 
person viewpoint in 
detailed worlds. Rather 
than sticking players in 
a straightforward 
deathmatch, the game 
enables players to 
equip their castles with various traps, weapons, and guards as 
they attempt to invade an opponent’s fortress. These ele- 
ments separate Wheel of Time as a hybrid action/strategy title 
that could offer a distinct alternative to the typical shooter. It’s 
hard to believe that this title is only two games removed from 
Legend’s last text-based adventure. 

X-COM ALLIANCE 

Developer; Microprose 

Remember the wildly 
popular turn-based 
strategy franchise that 
moved more toward 
action gaming with the 
realtime/turn-based mix 
in X-COM: Apocalypse ? 

Well now it has made 
the leap to first-person, 
courtesy of the Unreal 
engine. In this latest 
incarnation there’s a definite Aliens flavor while retaining some 
strategy as you move through detailed environs with team mem- 
bers watching your back. Video screens show their movements 
and their viewpoints, and motion sensors let you know where 
danger lurks. Even early in development this looks promising. 

DUKE NUKEM FOREUER 

Developer: 3D Realms 

Goodbye Quake II engine. Hello Unreal. 

DAIKATANA 2 

Developer: Ion Storm 

This is one of the most telling titles of all, considering Ion Storm 
used the Quake II engine for Daikatana and shifted to Unreal for 
the sequel (being developed out of Ion Storm’s house). 





DAIKATANA 

Developer: Son Storm 

Will John Romero live up 
to the reputation he 
built as a level designer 
at Id Software? Will 
Daikatana’ s RPG ele- 
ments make multiplayer 
action more fun? Will the 
game ever come out? 

From an early look, the 
answer to all these 
questions is yes. And 
thanks to its Quake //-powered graphics, no one is asking 
whether or not it will look good. 


SIN 

Developer: Ritual Entertainment 

Lovingly called “baby 
Id” by Activision, devel- 
oper Ritual is creating a 
shooter that offers a 
unique design to keep 
the action fresh. Play- 
ers’ actions determine 
the course of the game, 
and certain key deci- 
sions result in a variety 
of branching paths. The 
multiplayer gameplay is also very refined, with high-tech 
sniper rifles and location-specific body damage. 


HALF-LIFE 

Developer: Valve software 

All other things being 
equal, story matters, 
and Half-Life is chock- 
full of story. In contrast 
to the usual shooter, 

Half-Life blurs the line 
between good guys 
and bad guys, forcing 
players to assess their 
targets rather than 
shooting everything 
that moves. It also features numerous interactive elements 
such as vehicles you can ride, taking the action away from the 
standard run-and-shoot first-person gameplay (check out the 
full preview on page 47 for more details). 


ANACHRONOX 

Developer: Ion Storm 

Think of it as Final Fantasy VII set completely in a beautiful 
Quake II- rendered world. 

KINGPIN 

Developer: Xatrix 

The hard-edged gangster action in this not-for-kiddies game is 
a fresh change from Xatrix’s stale Redneck Rampage series. 



17:1 ► 


jj> 

|T| v 
I'fl v 

O 

□> 












V 


T 


V 




f 


g 


V 


a 


V 




s 


P 


i 


t 


v 


s 






















g 


V 


p 


b 


\A 


V 


t 


h 


F 


a 


V 




s 




► P-126 


123 


NuqDaq puchpa?” means "Where’s the bathroom?” in Klingon 





Depression hurts. Deathtrap Dungeon andTomb Raider II can help. 


SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS 
OF DEPRESSION 


■ Persistent sadness and or irritability. 


1 Recurring thoughts of how much 
better life would be if you had 
Deathtrap Dungeon or Tomb Raider JL 


Statements such as, "I'm bad. 
I'm stupid. No one likes me." 


When depression strikes , immediately seek the help of a 
trained professional at your local computer game store . 



Wiping secretions 



Research shows that the leading cause of depression 
among gamers is a noticeable lack of Eidos games. 

Fortunately, this deficiency can be treated both safely and 
effectively with games like Deathtrap Dungeon 
or Tomb Raider II. But early intervention is crucial. Or else, 
it’s only a matter of time before they threaten to do 
something really stupid, like go to therapy. 



INTERACTIVE 

You’ve been warned. 

www eidosinteractive.com 


TO RECEIVE PLAYING TIPS, CALL THE EIDOS HINT LINE (900)773-4367. Cost of call $0.95/minute. Must be 18 years or have parent’s permission. Touch tone phone required. 




PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 



INDIANA JONES AND 
THE INFERNAL MACHIf 


LucasArts 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT ~> 


Those who think that Tomb Raider 


III looks a little too familiar 


WHAT IT IS— £ An adventure 


game with everyone’s favorite 


archaeologist at the helm 


WHY IFSAPCXL GAME- 


WHERE IT’S AT--> LucasArts is 


keeping typically tight-lipped. The 


early screens look good, though 


WHEN IT’S COMING- 


Winter ’98 


HOMEUORID 


Sierra 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT--)- 

Those who think top-down strategy 


WHATITIS-->A 


realtime 


game that will push your PC and 3D 


accelerator to its limits 


WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME- 


3D realtime strategy in space 


WHERE IT’S AT--> The graphics 


are already impressive, and the 


gameplay looks equally strong 


WHEN IT’S COMING- 


FORCE COMMANDER 

Lucas Arts 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT - ••> 


Darth Vader-wannabes 


THE WOMEN WE LOVE TO PLAY 


Getting the right look for a videogame character is sketchy business, just look 
at RYNN, Psygnosis’ lead character from its fantasy shooter, Drakan. In the title’s 

short span of 
development, 
Rynn has gone 
through more 
body changes 
than Oprah Win- 
frey during the 
holiday season. 
At first she was 


built strong and 

slightly mannish, a look that was 
quickly overcompensated for, leav- 
ing a character so gaunt that she 
wouldn’t have the strength to steal 
a rice cake from 
Fiona Apple. After 
much refiguring, 
the developer was 
able to settle on a 
body that we 
think will make 
gamers sit up and 
take notice. 







































































i 



















powered looks 




WHEN IT’S COMING-)- 


spring ’99 







* 





TOSHIBA’ 


Lightning Audio Vide© Toll Free 888-333-8595 
http://www.top7.com/lightning 


Md\> Graphics 


VORLDWIDE COMPUTERS 
& Software 


The leader in Graphics, Sound, 
Video & Game Controllers! 


Game theater: The first PC sound- 
card to combine 64-voice GM/GS 
wavetable synthesis, dynamic 3D 
audio, 4-channel output, customizable 
surround sound and real-time effects. 

Featuring 2MB RAM on board 
(expandable to 18MB), a 50 MIPS 
Digital Signal Processor, software, and 
50 enhanced settings for top-selling 
games. Worldwide Computers $99.95 

Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 

Get Specifications, Demo’s and Drivers at 
http://www.guillemot.com 


Custom 3D & 4D for Diablo & Quake 


See all Top7 Reviews at 
www.top7.com 


Toshiba Notebooks: Libretto soct, 70CT, iooct 
S atellite Pro 460CDT, 480CDT, 490CDT, 490CDX Portege 
300CT, 320CT, 320CDS, 320CDT Tecra 530CDT, 550CDT, 
Tecra 730CDT, 750CDT, 780CDM 5G, 780DVD 5G, 
780CDM 8GB 

Toshiba Special: Tecra 730XCDT PI 50 32MB $1549 


SDRAM 32MB, 64, 128 $30/ 69/ 139 EDO 16MB, 32, 64 $19/ 29/ 69 
Call for current pricing 

Maxtor 2.8G, 4.3G, 6.8G, 8.4G, 11G $129/ 149/ 189/239/309 


Maxi Gamer 3D2 and its 
Astounding Performance: Over 100 
Frames per second! Delivering over 50 
Billion general operations per second 
with its 3 inter-linked processors. Maxi 
Gamer 3D2 is the fastest accelerator 
card available. Buy from Worldwide 
Computers 888-333-8595 $239.95 


Play Quake at 90 Frames/Second 


Gamers All 3D System 

New AMDK62 3D 300MHZ Chip, 64MB, Maxtor 
6.8G, 32X CD, Diamond 56K VI Modem, 
Guillmot 64Bit True 3D Sound, Guillmot Voodoo 
2 3DFX 8MB, Diamond Stealth G460 8MB AGP, 
17” Monitor, Choice of 6 Software Packages, 

Win98 $1699 

(Includes Shipping & Setup)(CA Tax) 


Intel PI I 266, 333, 400 $219/ 399/ 699 
AMDK62 3D 266, 300 $119/189 

Visit www.top7.com/worldwide for 
online ordering or call 805-577- 
0350 for more information 


AMDS 


ADD 
to Cart 


mm 


Guillemot International 


Home Electronics 


Infinity 

JOverture 1/2/3 $608/$593/$700 
IbU- 1/2 $199/$270 
|CC1/2/3 $135/$216/$260 
Cerwin Vega, Jamo, 
Pioneer, Aiwa, BIC, 
Harmon Kardon, and 
more available. 


Cer Audio 


Home Theater 

Pioneer VSX906S 
5X1 00W, Dolby 
Digital, DSP, Remote 

$749.95 

Yamaha, Denon.Sony, 
Aiwa, Panasonic and 
more. 


Toshiba SD3107 

$529.75 


Sony DVPS7000 $809 

Other Sony and Pioneer 
DVD’s available 


Cd Players 

Pioneer DEHP835R $339.95 
735/545/345/245$279$229/$ 1 89/$ 1 65 
Panasonic, JVC, Sony, Clarion, 
Alpine, Kenwood, and more! 

Amplifiers 

Infinity KA54A $357 
Pioneer, Kicker, Sony, 
Clarion, JBL, JVC, 
Kenwood, and more! 

Kicker 

SS80 $145 
Powerstation 

PSR120$369 
Call for pricing 


Toshiba CN36G97 
$1449 

Hitachi, Panasonic, and 
Pioneer big screens 
available 


Cerwin Vega 

Vega 124 $139.95 


Infinity Kappa 

693. 1 i $179 


Calijoll fkee 888-333-8595 for questions or ordering. 

Meption this ad and get a free softuuare title. 

You will not find a less expensive price. Guaranteed!!! 


Certified Platinum Sellers 

Diablo II ! Diablo II, players return to a world of 
dark gothic fantasy. As one of five distinct character 
types, Players will explore the world of Diablo II, 
journey across distant lands, fight new villians, dis- 
cover new treasures and uncover ancient mysteries. 
Five all-new character classes with unique attributes 
and abilities. Four different, fully populated towns 
complete with wilderness areas. Multiple dungeons, 
caverns and crypts in every town for players to 
explore. Expanded world filled with all-new quests, 
weapons, spells, armor, monsters and non-player 
characters. Advanced combat system which incor- 
porates class-specific fighting techniques and spells. 

Quake II Mission Pack: Ground 0 

Ground Zero's vast new regions to explore include 
14 new levels and 10 new deathmatch levels. 
Ingenious new power-ups provide novel means to 
survive and throttle the new enemies that have 
emerged from the Stroggs’ bio-vats. 

Starcraft: Starcraft also boasts advanced con- 
trol features such as waypoints and training 
queues to provide enhanced gameplay, in addition 
to the intuitive interface, superb SVGA graphics, 
and outstanding sound and music that have come 
to be expected from Blizzard Entertainment. 

All the Top Rated Titles available 
from Worldwide Computers 


■■Hi 

to Cart 


\Maxl Sound 1 









PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 


^ WHAT IT IS*-)- A realtime strategy 
jjjj* game set in the Star Wars universe 
***y between A New Hope and The 
|T| Empire Strikes Back 

0"| WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME -) The 
possibility of crushing Ewoks with 
□> an AT-AT and hearing the satisfying 

squish in THX surround sound 
WHERE IT’S AT-> With its 3D 
environments, special effects, and 
high-tech units, Force Commander 
could be LucasArts’ perfect realtime 
strategy companion to the shooter 
Jedi Knight 

WHEN IT’S COMING-) Fall ’98 



REDLINE 

Beyond Games 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT—) 

Those suffering from road rage 
WHAT IT IS—) It’s Carmaggedon 
with first-person action out of the 
cars, better graphics, and more 
realistic physics 
WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME-) 
Hardware accelerated, online, and 
plenty of gory gang violence 
WHERE IT’S AT-) Close to fin- 
ished, Beyond Games is now mak- 
ing levels for the final version 
WHEN IT’S COMING-) 

Fall ’98 



The Heat-Q 



THIEF: THE DARK 
PROJECT 

Looking Glass 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-) 

People who think Quake II has too 
darn much shooting 
WHAT IT IS— ) A first-person 
shooter that rewards players for 
being stealthy 

WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME-) It’s 
OK to sneak around as long as you 
do it for bad purposes 
WHERE IT’S AT-) Hopefully the 
touted enemy At makes the sneaki- 
ness worthwhile, but the graphics 
could use some tweaking to take ^ p. 129 


Springfield 



OWFDI 


t! 

Tyson 



For three days in the steamy hot center of Atlanta, the entire videogame world con- 
verged to show off their products with the help of multimillion-dollar booths, loud 
techno music, and an occasional swimsuit model wearing a plastic tube top. When all 
the sound and fury ended, most things were the same as before, but out of the chaos 
many things changed, which we’ve charted on our all-knowing HEAT-O-METER. 


|X 

,0 

fcE 

x 


RICK SPRINGFIELD-? The developers of Interstate 76 trade in the bell bottoms and afros for 
a look more reminiscent of the early ’80s. Maybe this could be a start of a full ’80s revival, 
and the singer of “Jesse’s Girl” could finally be back on top. (Keep an eye out for “Hard to 
Hold II.”) 

SALT LICKS— ? 3DO’s new shooter Requiem gives players one of the coolest powers we’ve 
seen in a while: the ability to turn enemies into pillars of salt. 

COMMON SENSE—? Intelligence reigns supreme as Cyan’s best seller Riven drops out of the 
top ten sales charts. Oops, never mind. Myst is still in the top five. 

DINOSAURS—? Dreamworks Interactive’s Trespasser is one of the most surprising games of 
E3. If it sells well, we may finally see that Carnasaur game we’ve been waiting for. 
CENDANT— ? Picks up rights to CyberFlix’s sinking Titanic: Adventure Out of Time and rides 
the coattails of James Cameron’s blockbuster to number two on the PC sales charts. 


□ 

_l 

o 

Jl 

l"l 

h— 

•C 

X 



DIABLO II—? Blizzard announces that its title will be pushed back past Christmas to the first 
quarter of 1999. Gee, a Blizzard title missing the holiday season? Who’d have ever figured that? 

QUAKE II ENGINE--:- Duke says “hasta la vista” to Qll and “hey, baby” to Unreal. With the 
change costing 3D Realms just four to six weeks, how many more will jump ship from Id? 
MESSIAH—*? Compared to Quake II- and Unreal-based games, Shiny’s shooter looks like it 
could be a false prophet. 

MIKE TYSON—? Electronic Arts signs nearly every influential boxer of the last 30 years, but 
notably missing is the ear-munching miscreant who is serving a one-year suspension from 
boxing in a professional wrestling rehab center. 

INNOVATION—? Maxis scraps plans for a fully 3D SimCity30oo and remakes it to look 
almost exactly like SimCity 2000. You’d think things would change in a thousand years. 
VIRTUAL WILDLIFE—? With Deer Hunter, Rocky Mountain Trophy Hunter, and Cabela’s Big 
Game Hunter topping the PC game charts, it’s none too safe for digital Bambis these days. 


Ever since Ginger Spice left the multiplatinum-selling Spice Girls, the world (well, the 
PCXL office) has had one question on its mind: Who will take her place? While there is no 
shortage of attractive young singers around, we feel that the best replacement will be a 
name we already know. Here are a few of the women we believe can best fill the now- 
departed Geri Halliwell’s shoes. 



SHANNON TWEED 

TO BE KNOWN AS-? 

Straight-to-Video 

Spice 

WHY SHE’D WORK-? 
Much like Ginger 
Spice, she will take off 
her kitt anywhere, 
anytime 


FARRAH FAWCETT 

TO BE KNOWN AS-? 
Stoner Spice 
WHY SHE’D WORK-? 

’80s pin-up girl will do 
just about anything to 
support drug habit 


MARY HART 

TO BE KNOWN AS-? 
Spasm-Inducing Spice 

WHY SHE’D WORK-? 

Mass seizures at 
concerts could create 
some trendy new dance 
number 


JOAN COLLINS 

TO BE KNOWN AS-? 

Old Spice 

WHY SHE’D WORK-? 
She can’t sing and 
she’s British: a perfect 
fit 


ANNA NICOLE SMITH 
TO BE KNOWN AS-? 
Spice Rack 

WHY SHE’D WORK-? 
More breast tissue 
than other Spice Girls 
combined 









Wingman 



Microsoft’s FORCE 
FEEDBACK PRO is the 
current market leader 
In feedback joysticks. 
Its gear-driven system 
is effective, but not as 
smooth or precise as 
the Wingman Force. 


The LOGITECH WINGMAN FORCE 

will retail for around $149 when 
it hits stores in late 1998. The 
price point will put it in 
direct competition with 
Microsoft’s Force Feed- 
back Pro. 


hen Microsoft introduced its Force Feedback 
Pro joystick, the market for high-end con- 
trollers was dominated by the hardcore simu- 
lation crowd. The stick was an unqualified 
success, and many game developers rushed 
to add full support for the hardware. Now that Microsoft has 
established that force feedback will sell in the mass market, Log- 
itech has jumped on the bandwagon with a controller that refines 
the concept to the next logical level: the Wingman Force. 

If you crack open the cases of both Microsoft’s Force Feedback 
Pro and Logitech’s Wingman Force (don’t try this at home unless 
you have an extra $150 lying around) you will find that the insides 
are completely different. The Microsoft stick is powered by a 
motor and gears, while the Logitech pad is controlled by a wire- 
driven system that was developed to train doctors how to operate 
by feel as they stick catheters in various dark regions of unsus- 
pecting patients’ anatomy. 

The difference between the two is immediately noticeable. In a 
comparison of smoothness, Logitech’s Wingman Force is to 
Microsoft’s force-feedback joystick what Billy Dee Williams and a 
six-pack of Colt 45 is to Don Knotts and a six-pack of Oly. Its wire- 
driven system enables much higher feedback frequencies, and 
quicker, less jumpy directional changes. The new controller not 
only supports Microsoft’s Direct X 5.0, it also supports Immer- 
sion’s 1 -Force 2.0 feedback API, which means every new 
game that includes feedback will work with the Wing- 
man Force. 

Force feedback is here to stay, and as more gamers 
buy joysticks that support it, new uses for the technol- 
ogy will affect the games themselves. For instance, a 
game could have a repeating heartbeat pulse to indicate 
health rather than a visual meter, a vibration that warns 
of danger, or feedback that enables players to 
feel their way through dark levels. By 
taking an innovative route in cre- 
ating its new joystick, Log- 
itech has created a strong 
contender for leader- 
ship in this burgeon- 
ing market. 


l~l ^ full advantage of 3D hardware 

□> WHEN IT’S COMING- ■■•> 
Winter ’98 



HGAUy GEAR II 


Activision 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-) 

Gearheads with a P266 
WHAT IS IT—) The next in a 
seemingly endless stream of games 
about giant robots shooting other 
giant robots 

WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME—) Big 

robots with big guns 
WHERE IT’S AT-> An all-new 
engine makes the graphics much 
better than those in Heavy Gear 

WHEN IT’S COMING-) Fall *98 



INTGRSTATG 82 

Activision 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-) 

Those who couldn’t get enough 
“Miami Vice” 

WHAT IT IS—) The sequel to 
Interstate 76 steps into a new era 
with a new look and new ’80s music 
to boot 

WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME-) 

Pastel suits and no socks was some- 
what manly in the ’80s, wasn’t it? 
WHERE IT’S AT-) With new 
gameplay features and a much- 
improved 3D graphics engine, 
Interstate 82 is raring to go 
WHEN IT’S COMING^)! 

Winter ’98 



GROUND ZERO 


Rogue Entertainment 

WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-) 

Insatiable Quake addicts ^ p. 130 



PC ACCELERATOR September 1998 







You can also send your complaints to wherethesundontshine@pcxl.com 





Q ^ WHAT IT IS"~ 3 t Another Quake II 


mission pack from Rogue Entertain- 


ment, the guys who made Quake: 


Dissolution of Eternity 


WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME- 


teen new levels and more Quake II 


weapons! 


WHERE IT’S AT--> Pretty typical 


add-on pack with new weapons and 


enemies, but it is more Quake II 


WHEN IT'S COMING •> 


Summer 


OUTCAST 


INFOGRAMES 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT-> 


Those who want 3D action without 


a 3D accelerator 


WHAT IT IS— )• A fast and gor 


geous game that looks absolutely 
amazing despite its lack of 3D- 


/are acceleration 


WHY IT'S A PCXL GAME-) 


Software-rendered explosions still 


manage to fry the eyes 


WHERE IT’S AT - 


looks stunning, and Infogrames has 


just begun adding 3D acceleration 


support 


WHEN IT’S COMING-) 


Summer ’98 


DIABLO II 


Blizzard 


I'M MAD AS HECK 


□ Made constant references to beer 

□ Included the Cinco De Mayo in Harlem during a Michael 
Bolton concert bit 

□ Added Custer’s Revenge to your Guy Games list 

□ Knocked a game lower on the Guy Games list because it 
doesn’t include brothels 

□ Used the phrase “guys love Satan” 

□ Made constant digs at girly men 

□ Called a revered Democrat a sex addict 

□ Called a revered Republican a sex addict 

□ Suggested that peace-loving Ghandi would be a good Quake 
nickname 

□ Used the word FartRhino 

□ Brought up the image of Don Knotts and a six-pack of Oly 

□ Reported on slang for diarrhea 

□ Reminded us of Critters 3 

□ Used “overused cat box” imagery 

□ Other 

You guys are: 

□ dangerous idiots, 

□ juvenile idiots, 

□ #@#$%@! idiots, 

□ a breath of fresh air (but still idiots), 

and I wish you would: 

□ quit writing such an offensive magazine and focus on family 
titles like Roger’s Reading Adventure. 

□ take your stupid magazine and stick it ... (rest deleted). 

□ die a slow horrible death. 

□ get to work on issue 2. 


Thank you for your time. 


Make sure no one is watching you while you read this article, because there is a good chance that as you read 
it you will begin to drool. Not the drool of a 14-year-old who discovers “Baywatch” for the first time, but a more 
intense drool of a computer nerd faced with a system that simply blows his mind. 

Now that you have been fairly warned, let’s take a look at the GATEWAY DESTINATION system. With its mas- 
sive 36-inch monitor, six-speaker Harmon/Kardon sound system, and 333MHz processor, the Destination needs 
only an accompanying La-Z-Boy recliner and a refriger- 
ator full of beer for you to happily live for at least two 
years (or until the beer runs out). The system wilt play 
straight TV, music CDs, the radio, and even DVDs 
along with its computer and gaming functions. Built 
to be an entertainment center, the Destination uti- 
lizes a remote control for a mouse, and uses an 
infrared keyboard so you can keep typing as you grab 
another beer from the fridge. 

All these benefits come at a cost, however. The 
entire system we tested (33MHz, 128MB RAM, 10GB 
hard drive, PowerVR accelerator) retails for around 
$4,300 at www.gateway.com. But if you have the cash 
and a comfortable La-Z-Boy, this is the system for you. 


GEAR 


We realize that just about everyone will be offended by 
the contents of our magazine, so we decided to make 
things easier for you and include this handy little 
cutout form. Just check off the boxes that apply and 
send the letter to: 

I’m mad as heck! 
c/o PCXL 

150 North Hill Drive 
Brisbane, CA 94005 

Or just e-mail us at: easilyoffended@pcxl.com 


Dear PCXL staff, 

I was reading your magazine when to my 

□ shock, 

□ dismay, 

□ puerile enjoyment. 


you did the following: 


Made fun of Evel Knievel’s stupidity 
Depicted Southern people as inbred hillbillies 
Trashed the Queen of Nice, Rosie O’Donnell 
Glorified cannibalism 

Made reckless fun of turn-based strategy gamers 
Made offensive religious references 
Used the phrase “Bjork smuggling” (It just has to be dirty) 
Used the phrase “bilinear mip mapping” (ditto) 

Made constant references to dead celebrities 
Glorified violence in videogames 
Implied that manliness means cavemanlike behavior 
Failed to represent female-oriented games like jane’s Rela- 
tionship Adventure 
Used the phrase “erotic grunts” 

Asked a developer the question “Have you ever seen a 
grown man naked?” 

Used cuss words like hell, damn, big-ass, and hard-assed 


WHO WANTS TO PLAY IT~) 

Those with an unnaturally active 
dark side 1 , 1 , ,j , j 
WHAT IT IS—) The sequel to one 
of the biggest hits of last year (and 
ever) with upgraded graphics, four 
times the level size, and a final end 
to multiplayer cheaters 
WHY IT’S A PCXL GAME-) Lots 
of destruction and barely dressed 
female baddie s j 

WHERE irS AT-) Delayed until 
after the holiday season (which is 
no surprise for a Blizzard game) but 
right now it looks like more and ^ p. 131 


□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 

□ 


□ 

□ 


PCXL DREAM 





Uncord 

www.ripcordgames.com 










ipllpj 




feet- uke ktckiNG t 
^ um€ Pwwk's Bun-? 

"* **•" W«, ^ 

S.^uGl 10 TJfe Auweo 

U ""*«> »«**, 

4w,lr bcc ^ 

y ° MR P S And n 

' WriWSe ™AN ^ 

,r ' 5 Uf> fo Y 0M to capture 

y°OIR 0fP6 Ne g T ' S pc^c, W HtL£ 
VoxA TAyiG 


ap!,| 

^Sl. 

|Pft I 


OP fW£ rtbsn&sr assault 
VFUlCL^ <£VGTL KlAi>E !M A 
fOUXR S*-6 

**** f * ow1 
Ou«p Ocrs TO TVJlcs. 7^ 

A OF MuLTlrPUreg. 

war with VouR pr,^ 

Ouv Cont coMc,Be 66lfi(fo f-u 




'W?-S 8 (o 7 ; 


Voodoo Banshee 




Contest URL: www.3dfx.com/win-a-banshee 
Go to http://www.pcxl.com/gaming411 

Copyright© 1998 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. The 3Dfx Interactive logo, Voodoo, Voodoo Graphics, Voodoo 2 , Voodoo Banshee and Voodoo Rush are 
trademarks and/or registered trademarks of 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. 


tiliWilHiM'ifr PC ACCELERATOR Quake Killers— Special Don Knotts tribute issue— Our first issue and vour last chance at salvation app